Ninjago AU3- Balance of Light and Shadow
by LadyMarissaGarmadon
Summary: Two kings played a game; it was left at a stalemate when the king of light was losing. After the king died, a boy with a heart of gold took his place at the chess board of fate. Together with his five friends, they will decide the fate of their land against the cursed one. Two sides of the scale were in perfect balance & it all was shattered when the day met the night.
1. Prologue

Three months since the team of ninja was formed. Two weeks since Lord Garmadon destroyed the Great Devourer and stole the golden weapons for the four teenagers. And one day since the four ninja lost their powers completely.

The last four tribes of Serpentine hid away in their underground tombs, burrowing tunnels to connect their four homes, which was Skales' idea. He was Pythor's second in command and now he would take over making the tribes' decisions.

With the Destiny's Bounty gone, the seven members of the ninja team moved back into the palace, now mostly repaired. They spent many days helping the people of the Imperial City clean and rebuild after the Devourer's attack.

Misako stayed close to the palace she once called a home with the fear of her husband looming over the land. Time was drawing nearer and she knew the third stepping stone was that Garmadon would steal the weapons. There were only five more until the river of destiny would be crossed.

The day was drawing closer and closer and Lord Garmadon knew that too.

Lloyd became the green ninja and now was being trained day and night by his new family, the ninja who never stopped caring for him in their short time together. He had to be ready to defeat his father, or else, Ninjago would be doomed to an imbalance forever.

Little did his know he was the scale between the two sides; light and dark and two who broke it; his own parents.

**So after Simple Things I will post Getting Back Together since I discontinued Seven Sins project. I hope you will enjoy this story because I had too much fun writing it :)**

**Thank you for reading**

**~Mar**


	2. Darkness Shall Rise

"Wait… without our golden weapons… we can't use our powers like we use to?" Kai's heart sank. He stared at his hands. It had been a day since he could create flames from his fingertips.

Without the weapons, their power grew weaker by the day, all they had was their Spinjitsu now but their hard earned true potential was now null and void without the golden weapons at their sides.

Wu sighed, sitting down on the bench around their hub table, "I know… I should have warned you four and I am sorry…" he apologized. "But now I need you to instruct Lloyd… he needs to learn what you know… I do not care with or without your own powers…"

The four young ninja looked at one another and sighed. "We'll do anything for the kid," Cole nodded.

Garmadon stood over the glowing sea of gold matter and laughed. It had been a two week trip to the Golden Peaks. He had plenty of time to think about what Misako told him the night he stole the weapons.

He didn't want to fight Lloyd and he decided that he would be in charge of his own fate, not his wife's ridiculous ideals and her scrolls that spouted nonsense.

But before he could take Lloyd and leave, he'd need something rather important along the way, involving the four golden weapons he finally had in his possession.

"Well then, looks like it's time to use my latest plan… and it's all thanks to my brother's stupid students," he held the four gold weapons over the pool below him and the four fused together, creating a new staff weapon.

He looked it over and grinned, "I'm going to stop you ninja and get my son back…" he closed his hand around the gold staff. "And then I'll take over the kingdom…"

The Serpentine slithered through the desert, now out of their tombs and trying to devise a plan to terrorize the surface dwelling inhabitants of Ninjago. Now that Pythor was gone, they actually could use some…

_Rational _ideas.

However, another stepped in to try and win them over. "Well what do we have here?"

Everyone turned around to see Garmadon standing behind. "What do you want!? Came here to destroy us too!?" Skales snapped angrily.

"Actually… I came to recruit you," the dark lord grimly smiled. "I now have the four weapons… and I can let you have a stake in my new world".

"No way!" Skales shouted. He saw most of the snakes murmuring, siding with Garmadon. He panicked. "If you rule with me; we rule as brothers!" Skales tried to win them back.

"Rule with me… or else," Garmadon growled and folded his arms.

The four generals were left by themselves as their armies went with the dark lord. Skales hissed angrily watching them leave.

"What now Skales?" Acidious asked.

"I don't know but… come on… I have an idea…" the Hypnobrai general started off, towards the Imperial City. "And it involves the little green brat…"

The four ninja ran down the long stairwell, except for Jay, he slid down the banister like he was a child. "Jay… is that really appropriate?" Zane frowned when they got to ground level.

Jay laughed, "Oh come on; you know I always wanted to do that! You forgot where we come from; a two story house with a banister is a luxury".

The others walked past the blue ninja who jumped to his feet to follow them. Lloyd was sitting outside, staring at the old willow tree standing on the east half of the courtyard in front. "Hey Lloyd… what're you doing?" Kai messed the boy's hair up.

"Just thinking… that's… that's all…" the blonde's hands fiddled with the other nervously. He looked up at the four taller boys. "I don't wanna do this…"

"We know…" Zane sat down next to him, "But you must… are you ready to start?"

Lloyd sucked in a breath. "Yea…" he nodded.

Wu watched the five small figures walk inside from the window in the study. He knew Lloyd didn't want to do anything, but he couldn't take the burden away from him as much as he'd like to.

"Sir," he turned at the sound of Nya's voice. "Call the guys in… I… kind of need to bring something to all of yours' attention". Her arms were folded tightly across her waist, hands holding onto her elbows.

**Just to say, I took even more liberties with this installment than the last two XD**

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll enjoy this part :) (sorry the first chapter is so lame XD)**

**~Mar**


	3. Darreth's Dojo

Garmadon had found the Destiny's Bounty, torn in two and weathering away from the acids in the Devourer's stomach. The mega weapon he now possessed was able to create anything he wanted. So he used it to rebuild the ship.

It had black paint and purple sails and instead of a warm, safe feeling; it reeked of death and impending doom now.

It still could fly so Slitheraa took the wheel, though he had no idea how it really worked. Choosing a Serpentine to pilot may not have been the best decisions.

Now with a ship and an army of snakes, he planned on taking his son back and preventing whatever fight _had_ to happen.

* * *

"What is it Nya?" Cole sat down with the others around the long table where they lived.

Nya had faint dark circles around her eyes and didn't even smile to say good morning to the others, "I heard… that people saw the Destiny's Bounty sailing recently…"

"What?!" The five boys said in unison.

Nya stretched her shoulders back and yawned while nodding. "I also heard that people were saying Garmadon was on board… and a bunch of Serpentine too… no doubt he's coming here…"

The four older boys exchanged glances while Lloyd slouched in his seat, looking a bit scared. "What do you think we should do?" Kai leaned against the table.

"Well," the black haired girl's nails picked at the splinters in the wooden table. "I don't know… you have no elemental powers… no weapons… but I had an idea… that… as long as we stay here, we are still a sitting target and everyone will know where we are if we train Lloyd here…"

Wu nodded, "Yes but there is no way we can just travel around like we use to. Even with the dragons".

"Sir, I think it's still a bad idea… so I thought… we kind of… not hide away for a while but, Garmadon will probably assume his son will be trained and kept here twenty four seven… right?"

"Naturally," Zane answered. "Where else would we train him?"

Nya scratched the back of her head, looking up, "Well… I found a place when I was in town… not sure how you guys would feel about it though…"

The men around the table looked at one another. Obviously this would not be a good idea if Nya thought it was not herself.

* * *

"You must be joking…" Cole and the others stared at the hanging wooden sign over the shop door. "You actually want us to train Lloyd here?"

"Darreth's Dojo? Who names their kid Darreth?" Jay laughed.

Wu was looking at Nya doubtfully too. She shrugged, "Hey, if no one takes this guy seriously… then I bet this will be the last place anybody would look for us".

"Fine…" Wu nodded. "Okay boys… take Lloyd in…"

"Where are you going sir?" Zane watched as Wu and Nya walked off a little.

"Off to do an errand with Nya. Run along now, train my nephew," Wu waved his hand, not looking back at the five ninja.

The four older ninja looked at one another and then back at the door. "Come on…" Kai was the first to walk in.

There was no one inside, "Hello?" Cole looked around. "Anyone home?" he knocked on the wood wall.

"Class isn't for another hour!" a voice shouted behind a second door.

Jay raised an eyebrow, "Uh… sorry but… we kind of need to speak… now…"

Walking could be heard on the wooden floor and the door opened, "Jeffy and Phil if that's you, I'm not amus… oh… you're not…"

"Yea we're not some silly kids coming for class," Kai folded his arms. "In case you can't tell by our uniforms, we're ninja… royal ninja and we need… a… a place to train this kid to become the greatest ninja in the land," he patted Lloyd on the head.

"I; Sensei Darreth, owner of this dojo, is the greatest ninja in the land," he corrected them.

All five did not look amused at all, "Uh… sure…" Zane tried to sound pleasant about it but this guy was obviously too cocky for their liking.

Kai had given up on talking though and resulted in a flaming Spinjitsu tornado knocking Darreth over. "What the-"

"You might think you're the greatest ninja, but do you know Spinjitsu?" Kai smirked, arms folded. Lloyd was laugh from behind the taller ones.

The owner looked up at Kai. "Fine… you train here whenever you want," Darreth gave a thumbs up from his seat on the floor. "Any time you like!"

Around the corner, hidden behind an abandoned apple cart, the Serpentine generals sat, spying on the ninja. "Look there they are!" Skales pointed from his hiding place with his three general friends.

"What do we do now?" Skalidor looked over.

Skales turned to the others. "Okay, we need a new plan… what do you think we should do?"

"Release the Devourer!" Saklidor said.

Skales' eye twitched before he snapped at the Constrictai, "No you idiot! We already tried that!"

"What if we… released a swarm of… evil bees!" Acidious' claws folded together and he looked like came up with something awfully clever

Skales brought his palm to his face, sliding it down his snout, "Where would even get evil bees?"

Fangtom's two heads looked upset, "Well I don't see you, coming up with any suggestions!" The two heads hissed one at a time.

"Oh…." Skales' hands balled up into fists. "Okay… I think I might have an idea… but we should wait for the ninja to leave the boy alone… then we strike".

**This one goes out of order quite a bit compared to the show... so, I guess you'll see everything come together :) I sort of intertwined the first threeish episodes :) **

**Thanks for reading :3 **

**~Mar**


	4. Danger

Nya mounted on the horse she rode in on, Wu was behind her. They were heading for the city edges; the young girl's brown eyes scanned the air.

"Are you sure we should leave the boys alone?" Wu looked back down the road they traveled.

Nya nodded, still looking ahead, "Yea…, they'll be perfectly fine for an hour or so… I know none of the Serpentine have been accounted for… but this is in the center of the city, someone would have noticed a bunch of snakes," she shrugged. "Now… two of my friends back home, Ange and Marty wrote saying they saw our ship flying… and it was heading for here…"

"What do you plan to do if you find my brother and the ship?" Wu rode next to Nya.

Her brown eyes flashed, "Well now, sir, you don't think I'd have a plan?" she chuckled and set her horse a quicker trot pace. Wu looked at her. She laughed, "We run back here and tell the guys faster than if the Underworld was sucking us in". She smiled and kept riding.

"Haha look at me so fast you can't touch this!" Lloyd laughed as he hit the pads Kai held to protect himself, not that Lloyd had a hard punch anyways.

"Hey, how about a break guys?" Jay suggested, watching Kai and Lloyd.

Lloyd sat back on his butt and nodded quietly, just breathing.

"Hey, I'm gonna go over to the bakery and get something to eat… who wants to join me?" Cole started out of the door.

The other three ninja were out the door in moments of the leader asked. "I'll catch up later!" Lloyd called after them, panting still.

"Okay, do not move from this room!" Zane said before he shut the door.

Lloyd lay back on the hard floor. So far he was right about the training; he didn't like it, and he didn't want it at all.

Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something looking in through a window. He thought nothing of it until he saw through another window. It was a crimson and maroon swirled eye.

"Oh no…" Lloyd swallowed. He jumped to his feet, looking around and pushed the cabinet against the far side wall with all his strength to block the door, heart pounding. "It can't be…"

"The little brat thinks he can block himself in," Skales looked back. "Skalidor, go on," he gestured to the Constrictai general who started burrowing in front of the door threshold.

Lloyd growled when he heard the Serpentine trying to break through the floorboards. "Where is that Darreth guy?" he rolled his eyes. Not that he could help anyways.

"Man… where did Nya and Wu run off to?" Jay looked around, taking a bite of the warm bread.

Zane sat near the open door, staring down the street like he was focusing at something and left himself out of the conversation.

"Actually Nya got the heads up from friends of ours back home," Kai shoved a cookie in his mouth. "Two of our friends, Ange and Marty; they saw the dark Bounty coming our way… she told me on the way over"

"Huh… I wonder Garmadon has in store for us this time…" Cole folded his arms. He looked at Zane curiously. "Hey… Zane? Something wrong?"

At first, Zane said nothing and the others were about to shrug it off when he abruptly told them; "Lloyd's in trouble," he jumped up and bolted out the shop first, the others behind him.

Lloyd held the sword Kai left behind up, "I will use this!" The prince threatened. The sword was a little too heavy for him but he tried to hold it all the way up.

"Sure…" Skales stood at the other end of the blade. He didn't think the boy could really use it, he was just a little kid.

Then there was banging on the door outside. "LLOYD!" they shouted. The green ninja grinned in relief but then remembered he blocked the door and groaned.

"The door is jammed shut!" Jay tried to twist the knob and tried to push it in.

Cole shoved him out of the way and cracked his knuckles before charging, shoulder ramming into the door, breaking it down. Cole went sailing over the cabinet, landing face first on the furniture. Lloyd shoved in front while the other three climbed through, on top of Cole sprawled out on the cabinet, ready to fight.

Lloyd tossed Kai the sword and the four Serpentine generals put their hands up, defeated. Zane looked the young prince over, "Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Lloyd started smiling. "Man you guys are so cool, you didn't even need to fight them to make them give up," he started laughing. "But… where did Nya and my uncle go?"

The five turned at the sound of horse hooves and found Nya rushing in, "They're here…"

**Not much to say... only that the next chapter is called... PIRATE VS NINJA! XD Hehe thanks for reading :) **

**~Mar**


	5. Pirates VS Ninja

"Imperial City dead ahead!" Chokun, a Constrictai saluted. All the others thought of him as a suck up and he pretty much was.

"Then what's stopping you fools from going down there?" Garmadon looked at the very short snake.

He started stuttering, "Well, the others don't seem to be getting along…" Chokun pointed to the others behind him meekly.

Garmadon frowned at the others as they squabbled. He gripped the gold weapon in his hand. "I bet the original crew of this ship would be far more capable then these fools…" he looked back at the squabbling Serpentine clans. "I wish I had a better crew then them…"

The weapon started glowing, blinding the two nearest it. From the light appeared a group of pirates. Chokun's eyes widened, "What happened sir?!"

"What are you doing on my ship!" the one with the captain hat snapped.

"This is my ship!" Garmadon shouted back.

The captain looked at his men, "Throw them in the brig!" he yelled. "No one takes over Captain Soto's ship!"

"Captain Soto?" Garmadon asked before the group of pirates dragged them into the brig below deck.

Soto looked over the side, "What is this? My ship can fly now?"

"Why not take advantage?" the others pirates of the crew snickered, looking at one another.

The ninja ran outside, looking up at the clear sky. Entering the city from above was their beloved ship. Though, they were all surprised to see no snakes or Lord Garmadon on board that they could see.

"Pirates?" Jay's eyebrows rose.

Nya squinted against the sun, "That's weird… there weren't any pirates on board before when I saw it… or when Ange wrote to me…"

Wu frowned, "Regardless, they're here, they'll try and hurt the people… boys, go stop them!" he looked at his ninja but held Lloyd back by his collar. "All except you nephew…" he said, not looking down.

Lloyd growled and folded his arms, ceasing movement but grumbling something probably un-princely.

Nya ran after the four, joining too, tying her cape around her shoulders with a grin. "Wait up guys!"

"Time to take back the Bounty!" Cole laughed; then gave a sharp whistle with his fingers. "The dragons were getting exercise until dusk, they should be around here somewhere…" he looked up hopefully.

Rocky sailed over their heads first and he grabbed the dangling rope and hoisted himself up, circling around the ship full of pirates.

Nya grabbed Jay's hand as they pulled themselves onto Wisp and Kai and Zane did the same with their own dragons.

The five leapt off the dragons and onto the deck of the ship, weapons out and ready to brawl. "Pirates are illegal here in Ninjago!" Kai pointed. "So I guess you're coming with us! And give us our ship back!"

"This is my ship pajama men!" Soto shouted at them.

Nya narrowed her eyes and pulled her hood back, sword out and slung his sword out of his hand. "I'm a lady thank you very much!" she growled, sword sticking out at his throat.

From the sides, two crew members grabbed her by the arms. "HEY!" she shouted.

The ninja spun into action and started the fight with others. Nya finally stepped on both feet of her captors and elbowed both in the faces, running and slipping below deck to investigate.

"Nya Blackman?"

Nya turned at the sound of her name. She grimaced. "Lord Garmadon…" she looked at him and the Serpentine. "Let a bunch a pirates catch you?" She put her hands on her hips and smirked, mocking he dark lord.

"Those pirates are supposed to be long dead Miss Blackman," Garmadon gripped the gold staff.

That caught Nya's eye, "Are those my friends' gold weapons? What did you do to them!?" she leaned forward against the bars of the cell angrily.

"They're now the Mega Weapon… and they brought back those pirates the boys are fighting…" The dark lord told her. "If you let us out we could help you".

Nya folded her arms with a scowl, "Yea, the last time we let you help us, you stole the weapons!" she pointed at the staff of gold.

"Have it your way then!" he snapped at her.

Another dragon roar sounded and they looked out the window. Wu and Lloyd were on Shard, landing on the deck above.

"Don't move," she smirked and ran back up.

"Like I have a choice?" Garmadon blinked.

"Stay back Lloyd!" Wu ran ahead, gripping his bamboo staff tightly. When three pirates came at him, he spun the staff with both hands; knocking the first back and smacking the second with one end. He looked at the third, ready to strike when he backed off, running away.

Lloyd ignored what Wu told him though and charged in too. "NINJA-GO!" He shouted. Around him a green tornado materialized, it was brief though because after hitting Soto and a few henchmen, the young boy spun out of control and landed in a barrel on deck. "DID YOU SEE THAT?! I DID IT!" he laughed, jumping out of the barrel.

"Be careful Lloyd!" Jay shouted to the green ninja. "Let us handle this! You can barely control that tornado!"

Lloyd sank back into the barrel to hide, not pleased with the other's reactions.

Kai found Soto trying to escape and he ran after him, sword ready to strike if needed. The pirate captain tripped and turned around on the ground, Kai's sword pointed at him. "Call them off," Kai said.

"Surrender…" Soto growled to the others who were not doing too well either.

Cole and Zane started tying the pirates up. From below deck, Garmadon and the Serpentine found their own way out… and by that, I mean Chokun volunteered to be the battering ram to break the hard wood cages.

"Whoa what the heck is that?" Jay pointed to the mega weapon in Garmadon's hands.

Wu's eyes narrowed, "That Jay… is your golden weapons…" he grimly said.

"What!?" all four boys shouted in surprise.

Garmadon scowled, "Yes that's right… but you won't stop me… now get off my ship before I set the pirates free again…" he threatened.

"This is our ship!" Nya stepped forward angrily. "You stole it from us!" she shouted.

"Technically I _just happened _to find it in the guts of the Devourer," the dark lord smirked. "Unless you want Lloyd to be taken away right now, you'll get off…"

Lloyd swallowed and everyone stepped in front of the boy who looked almost ready to go with his father. "Come… let us leave…" Wu started backing up slowly as the ninja called for their dragons.

**So yea the first two episodes were more or less merged together a little... next up is... Double Trouble I believe, those were fun chapters because well... I had to reinvent a way for Lloyd's "friends" to catch him being I didn't want to be a school or accepting an award...**

**Thanks for reading :3**

**~Mar**


	6. The Invitation

Lloyd was wearing down from the training the past two days. His muscles were exhausted from the heavy training to build up his endurance and strength. Wu finally let the boy sleep in and have a bit of a break, something of which the prince was grateful for.

Kai, Cole, Jay, and Nya all sat around their table in the tower room. Training Lloyd would be harder than they thought. They only just realized he had a lot to learn.

Zane walked in, bringing the tea pot and poured them all cups. "Thanks Zane," Nya smiled, sipping the green tea. "So what do we plan to do about the fact that Garmadon has our ship and weapons?" she wiped some sleep from her eyes.

The four boys shook their heads. They didn't know either which frustrated them.

"Everyone up?" they heard someone shout from down the stair case.

"Yea Andrew!" Jay yelled back. "What do you want?"

"The king wishes to see you all!" the guard yelled back.

Everyone groaned and got up from their seats, abandoning the tea Zane just made. They passed the guard along the way.

"Sorry to interrupt your down time captain!" he saluted to Kai.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Whatever Andrew… doesn't matter because we never get rest anyways with a dark lord on the loose causing havoc…" he waved the young knight off.

Downstairs Lloyd had already been dragged out of bed and was grumpily sitting at the long table in the hall. "Good to see you looking so… awake". Wu saw the bags and or dark circles under the teenagers' eyes.

They looked grumpy same as Lloyd. "With all due respect sir, this was our rest day," Cole yawned, trying to stay awake.

"Well I just called you here because Lloyd has… received an invitation…" Wu curiously looked at an untied scroll. He pulled the string and started reading it.

Cole lifted his head, "Invitations mean parties… and parties mean cake," he seemed to not be tired anymore. "I do like cake…"

Lloyd also looked curious, "Wait what?" his green eyes widened. "I don't have any friends… who would… invite me to something?" The others looked at him, "Well I don't have any friends… ever… you guys are it…"

"Does the name Brad sound familiar?" Wu glanced over.

Lloyd dropped his head down on the table. "Oh no not him!" he covered his face.

"Who's that?" Kai asked.

Lloyd didn't seem to want to talk about it but he did anyways, "Okay so… there was this group of boys whose dads are members of the royal court… I thought I could be friends with…" Lloyd wiped his eyes and yawned. "They're really bad though… Brad once slipped a bunch of fire ants in my robes".

Nya eyes widened, "That's cruel". She said.

Wu frowned, "which was why I kept those boys away from Lloyd… a prince shouldn't be treated like that…"

"So what's the invitation for exactly?" Zane looked over.

Wu read it over, "It looks like it will be Brad's thirteenth birthday… and he insists you be there…"

Lloyd frowned and looked away. "I don't know about this one…"

Cole patted Lloyd on the shoulder, "It's okay if you don't want to go… even though you would deprive big brother Cole of his cake…"

Lloyd rolled his green eyes. "Okay fine… I'll go…"

Wu nodded, "Okay then, your will take Lloyd. Nya and I shall stay behind, so get going". The five boys got up to leave.

Aboard the Bounty, the pirates were thrown off ship and thrown into jail along with Skales and the other three Serpentine generals. Finally, the dark lord could actually focus on his plan to take his son back and rule over Ninjago.

"Now… I need some new ideas… this staff can create anything… so… come now, no bad ideas," Garmadon stood in front of the Serpentine, lower set of hands behind his back.

"What if you created more pirates?" one snake raised his hand.

"Over the side!" Garmadon shouted. Two Constrictai tossed him overboard at the command. "Next idea?"

"Recreate the Devourer?"

Garmadon glared when that was brought up, "Over the side," he pointed. The snake was shoved off for merely suggesting the idea. "Okay…" Garmadon sighed. "How about instead of ideas that have already failed us, why not try something different?"

"What if you created a giant roasted turkey?" one licked his lips.

Garmadon raised an eyebrow not understanding what the snake was trying to say, "A poisoned… one?"

"I would hope not! I'm ssssso hungry!" The Hypnobrai rubbed his stomach.

Garmadon narrowed his eyes and pointed his hand out. Another Hypnobrai kicked the other off the ship. "You bring me dishonor son!" he shouted after him.

"Pesky ninja… always ruining my plans… they always seem to be stronger… so adaptable…" he looked up, "Wait that's it!"

Slitheraa frowned, "a poisoned turkey?" he blinked. Garmadon narrowed his eyes at Slitheraa before knocking him overboard too. He'd go back for the ones he had thrown overboard… maybe.

Turning from the side of the ship he looked at the mega weapon. "I wish the ninja would meet their match…" he darkly laughed as the weapon glowed gold.

Lloyd was trailed by Kai, Zane, Jay, and Cole up the steps of the house of his once 'friend' and knocked.

A boy Lloyd's age with curly black hair opened the door. "Lloyd! So good to see you!" he hugged the blonde who looked surprised.

"Uh… Brad?" Lloyd didn't believe it. "… wha-… you put fire ants in my robes! Now you're happy to see me?" the green ninja blinked. "Or was that hug just because I have four the most powerful warriors as my guards?"

Brad didn't answer at first, "I'm sorry for acting that way when we were little," he apologized. "Come on in, the others are already here… but uh… first my father wished to congratulate you".

Lloyd's green eyes widened, "For what exactly?"

Brad laughed, "Why for becoming the green ninja! You didn't think the members of your own royal court would not know?"

"Kind of?" Lloyd frowned. He looked back at the others who followed him in. "It wasn't something that was announced or anything…" he looked at his feet as he walked on.

"Well, everyone sort of knows about… the prophecy…" Brad hesitated, "Guess we figure it'd be you," he shrugged and led them inside.

Cole leaned forward, "Excuse me… what kind of cake is it gonna be?"

"Cole!" Kai elbowed the black ninja.

"What? I'm just saying I hope it's chocolate!" Cole rubbed his shoulder where Kai landed the small blow.

Brad looked back, "My father's in his study… uh, I'm gonna go find Gene and the others," the black haired boy ran out.

The five boys shrugged and opened the study door and something hit them in the backs of their heads.

**See how I made that work!? ;) Birthday invitation instead of some award thing XD **

**This one was split into three I believe... I rather liked Double Trouble XP**

**So thank ya fro reading ^-^ **

**~Mar**


	7. Bullies

"Uh what happened?" Jay rubbed his forehead where he felt a small bump. He looked around and saw that Kai, Cole, and Zane and a couple of other people were in the darkened room too, however; no Lloyd.

"Lloyd?" Zane sat up next.

"The prince is not in here…" an older man said. The four ninja turned to look at the old man with grayed hair and brown eyes, narrowed. There was a woman next to him with black hair streaked with gray.

"What does that mean?" Kai narrowed his own brown eyes.

The woman sat up on her knees, hands out, "Our son Brad has not always been the best behaved…" she bit her lip. "In fact… his birthday is not for another month…"

"Then why send invites?" Zane politely asked, though he was sure him and the others were annoyed at this strange inconvenience.

A man with red hair and spectacles looked at them before speaking up, "Because they heard about Lloyd becoming the green ninja and want to try and make him one of their group… the boys have never liked Lloyd because of his power and position compared to them… they want to make him on their side and cause trouble with them."

Cole's eyes widened in realization. He grabbed Brad's father by the collar, "You mean there will be no cake!?"

"Cole!" the other three ninja yelled at him.

The earth ninja grumbled before folding his arms and slouching against the wall. "Just sayin'"

Lloyd sat, tied to a chair alone. He must have been sitting there for ten minutes before someone… or some people came in.

"Ah Lloyd…"

The green eyed boy grimaced when he saw who it was. "Are you kidding me?" the blonde scanned the small group. "Brad? Is it even your birthday?"

Brad and the others laughed. "No, my birthday is not till next month you idiot!"

"We're here to get you away from those silly ninja friends you have!" the red haired boy, Gene grinned.

Lloyd's eyebrows went up, "Why? What do you guys possibly want with me? I can have you all arrested and thrown in the dungeon if I want!" the boy laughed. "When my uncle hears about this then you guys are gonna be so sorry!"

"Not after we're through with you! We heard you're the green ninja and we thought, since you're so powerful, we'll be finally strong enough to terrorize the whole city!" Brad laughed with the small group of boys behind him.

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "Are you kidding me? I just began my training about a week ago… I can't even use a Spinjitsu tornado right!" the green ninja laughed in his seat. "And you guys are so ridiculous! Why would you want to terrorize people? Are you stupid?" he shook his head.

Nya took her goggles off and wiped the grease from her bare hands. Black splotches covered her face but she didn't care. She was too busy and too excited to finish the Ultrasonic Raider for the guys.

She was also too busy to hear the footsteps coming down the stone stairway behind her. She finally turned around when she was done wiping the metal off. "Oh hey Jay, back already?" She smiled, blushing.

"Oh uh… yea…" he said looking around.

Nya looked behind him, "Hey, where's Kai and the guys?" she frowned. "Or Lloyd?"

"Uh, they're around here somewhere," Jay looked around with a strange twist to his normal smile. He then looked behind her at the raider. "Nice contraption sweetheart".

Nya's thin eyebrows rose upon hearing that come from Jay. "Uh… yea…" she slid down, on her feet now and knees aching from kneeling up on the hard surface. "Still working the kinks out and all of that," she tucked some black hair behind her ear.

"Where is uh… his highness?" Jay asked.

"Jay, you know he likes you to call him sensei… he is your teacher too ya know," she folded her arms with a smile. "And he's upstairs in his study; always there around this time of day… you should know that". She laughed. "Or has training Lloyd taxed your brain too?"

Jay grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, sucking her into a deep kiss that made her pupils shrink in shock. She never expected Jay to kiss her like that… or at all actually.

He let go of her abruptly and wiped his mouth with a smirk and started back up the stairs, leaving Nya with a red face and a quick heartbeat; flustered. "See ya later sweetheart".

"Yea, the old man's up in his study," Jay grinned at the other three.

"Surprised you did any talking after hearing you make out with the Blackman brat," Kai folded his arms, laughing.

They started up the steps to the second level. They abruptly opened the door and Wu looked up, a bit startled. "Oh… it's just you four…" he narrowed his eyes though as they walked in. "Where… is Lloyd?"

Kai looked back at the others, "He uh, had so much fun, we left him there for a little bit and we're gonna go back for him".

Wu raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, you shouldn't have left my nephew all the way at the lake… he should be watched… you know he's not a strong swimmer…" his clasped his hands together.

"The lake…" Kai slowly said. "Yea, yea-".

Wu's staff smacked the side of Kai's face. "Lloyd is not at the lake, and he can swim rather fine, you four are not my pupils!" He held the staff at ready.

"Where is Lloyd!?" Cole growled.

Wu frowned, "I have no idea how my brother made you four to be like my students, but you can tell my brother; your master, this: he will never get Lloyd".

"Get him Zane!" Kai backed up as the copy of Zane started attacking. Since he was like white assassin, he had all the same moves that granted the real one as the protector of Lloyd so many years back.

"Hello? Sir?" They turned around upon hearing Nya's voice.

Zane held a dagger at Wu's throat. "Tell her everything is fine and to not come up here…" Kai threateningly ordered.

"Is everything okay sir?" Nya's voice came again. There was a pause, "Sensei Wu?"

Wu looked to the stairway and sighed. He didn't want Nya getting hurt; even she couldn't take on all the ninja at once. "I'm fine Nya… you should go back to your work…" Wu swallowed, the dagger still poised to slice.

Nya didn't come up anymore, "Okay… hey, did you see the guys? Apparently they came back from Brad's house… seems a little early right?"

The copies of the ninja looked around at each other, grinning. "Well then, thank the girl for us," Cole's copy smirked and the four left through Wu's window, the dagger pinning his clothing back to the wall.

Nya walked all the way up. "What happened?" she saw the papers were scattered around the floor.

Wu pulled the dagger out and picked his staff up, "The boys are in trouble Nya. Garmadon has made copies of them".

The brown eyed girl's face turned bright red when she realized it was a copy of Jay she kissed. "Uh… yes, let's go!" She quickly ran down the steps.

**This was rather fun because of Nya and the Jay clone... **

**Thanks for reading :)**

**~Mar**


	8. Double Trouble

Kai held his hands up against the door and found the handle in the dark. He twisted the knob and started pulling with all of his strength, straining his muscles until the knob unhinged from the door itself and the red ninja tumbled back, flat on his back, wind knocked out of him.

"Great, no knob at all now…" Jay folded his arms. "Cole! Break the door down!" he pointed in the general direction of the door. It was a little hard to see.

Cole slammed his shoulder into the door once but was quickly stopped by Brad's father. "Stop! Don't break the door anymore please!"

"Well Lysander, what do you suppose we do?" his wife huffed. "Who cares about a door when our boys are running wild?" her hair which was obviously tied back and up, was unraveling probably because of their son's forceful attempts to lock them up.

Lysander frowned and moved towards the bookshelves. "Ebony, I plan on doing something". He ran a finger across a row of dusty books. "My father had this escape way made back during the war days… there's a secret entrance if you pull the right book… though watch it, there maybe a couple trap ones…"

The ninja and the adults got moving, pulling books out of the shelves.

"Brad… we think that Lloyd's guardians broke out…" a little brown haired boy poked his head in, whispering.

Lloyd perked up upon hearing that and felt hope for getting out soon. Brad, Gene, and a few other boys with them ran out.

Lloyd then remembered that a week ago, Zane had given him a pocket knife to keep on his person, especially after what happened with Skales. He shifted his shoulders and found the hand of the blade. He slipped it out, clutching it tightly and slipped the blade guard off, starting to cut it against the ropes around him.

It loosened more and more until he could move his shoulders more freely and was able to get his hands in front, on his lap, cutting the last few ropes. The twelve year old stood, triumphant in his escape and started, quietly out of the door.

"Found it!" Jay pulled a book out. A pair of throwing stars was launched his way and the blue ninja ducked, giving a yelp. "Okay… not it…"

"No, here we go," Zane smiled and pulled a maroon book off a higher up shelf and the case turned in to reveal a secret entrance.

"Alright Zane!" Cole ran through first.

Lloyd slipped around the next corner of the hall and saw his four friends walking down it, in their ninja suits. Lloyd's eyes widened. "Guys?" Lloyd blinked at his friends in ninja suits.

He four looked in his direction. "It's him," Kai looked back at the other three. "Let's take him back".

"What? Back home?" he raised an eyebrow. "Sounds good to me, these guys are more crazy than when I was younger!" he was about to walk to them when her heard more steps.

From the other side of the hall were Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane, still dressed in their regular work clothes. The prince stepped back, confused.

"Guys…" Kai looked back. "Are we looking in a mirror?"

Zane frowned, "No… it appears they are dressed as ninja and we are not…"

"Guys… which one of your is the real guys?" Lloyd looked back at both parties.

Jay tugged at Zane's sleeve. "Check it out, they have red eyes…" the blue ninja noticed. He looked at Lloyd, "hey buddy, we're the real deal… you know it… we don't walk around in our ninja suits like that!"

The other Jay stepped forward, "Come on Lloyd, it's us! We'll take you home. Lord Garmadon made copies of us and is going to take you back before they can!"

Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "Okay then; there is only one way to solve this…" he said to himself. "Right; Jay; when Nya and I first met you three months ago in your home town… what did you find to return to her?"

The other Jay in the ninja suit opened his mouth to answer but closed it again. Lloyd smirked. "And Kai… what was the name of your father's horse?"

The other Kai did not answer either. "Cole; you're mother's name?" he looked at the other Zane, "And Zane… where did we first meet?"

None of the ninja on his left could answer. The young green ninja smiled, stepping back against his real friends. "The answers would be Nya's gold pendant from her mother, Mr. Blackman's horse's name was Ash, Cole's mother's name was Rose… and Zane and I met in the ice cave where I ran away to when I was seven!" He laughed and turned to the left where the four in work clothes stood.

"Okay enough of this!" Kai's copy growled. Unlike their own team; Cole was the leader, not Kai. Lloyd also saw through that one.

Zane pressed Lloyd back as him and Cole passed in front. All four ninja stood protectively in front of Lloyd, weapons drawn. The copies did the same.

They shared everything, same stances, weapons, and probably fighting skills. Lloyd shuddered, thinking of what his father did to create the duplicates.

Both real and duplicates charged forward, same pace, and form. Lloyd shrank back a little, still watching when something else came into the corner of his eye. He looked over and saw the boys who tricked him into coming here.

"Wow… what's going on?" Brad whispered.

Lloyd frowned. "My father made duplicates of my friends…" he looked back at the fight. None could land a hit because they moved with the same simultaneous motions. He looked back at the boys. "But I have an idea that can help my ninja win the battle".

"Why would we help you?" Gene folded his arms.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Well, unless you want the world covered in darkness by my father… you'll help me… I'm the green ninja and I need to stop my dad".

Brad and Gene looked at one another and then shrugged. "Fine… what did you have in mind?"

"Getting tired guys!" Jay panted and blocked the next hit. They lost track at how long they were fighting.

"Good thing we're here!" The eight looked back at the little prince's voice. Behind him a bunch of the boys that were there to torture Lloyd were dressed in blue, red, black, and white quickly and crudely made ninja suits.

The boys ran ahead, the real ninja backing up. It seemed that the four duplicates were overwhelmed by the others, colors confusing them for the real thing when they moved fast.

Cole bit his bottom lip a little and then took a chance. He swung his scythe when his copy turned his back, on contact of landing the hit; the copy vanished in a plume of black smoke.

Kai grinned and leapt in next to engage his clone and then Zane, and Jay. Zane had his copy against a wall and Kai had no problem when Brad jumped in front of the copy to distract him.

Jay blocked the next punch thrown by his bad version. Glaring into the copy's red eyes. "Hey, did I mention I made out with Nya?"

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Jay hissed. He lunged forward and slammed his fist into the other one's face knocking him to the floor before he could hit him again; disappearing in the black smoke. He stood up. "No one kisses my Nya!"

The Zane copy was gone now two and the ninja gathered around Lloyd, "Thanks kid," Cole smiled and ruffled his blonde hair.

"Aw it was nothing," the green eyed boy laughed back. "I think I sort of owed you guys one… or maybe more"

"What is happening here?" Everyone looked up. It was the boys' parents.

"Dad?" Brad blinked. "How did you get out?"

Lysander laughed, "Well, thank Lloyd's friends, they helped". He gestured to the real ninja. "I believe that you owe some people an apology though". He folded his arms.

Brad sighed. "Sorry… about everything…" the black haired boy looked around at everyone. "And now I think Gene needs to apologize for planning it…" he smirked at his red haired friend.

Cole stopped the kid. "Listen, everything will be forgiven… if I get that cake that was promised".

Lloyd and the others rolled their eyes upon the request.

"Is everything okay!?" The ninja turned to the sound of Nya. "The front door was opened… and you… all are okay…" she looked around. "Sir, it's okay… they're all fine!"

Wu walked in after her and looked around. "What happened? Where are the copies?"

"All defeated sir!" Zane nodded. "Thanks to Lloyd…" he gestured.

"We'll tell you all about it later though," Kai said. "Apparently Brad's mother is making a cake just for Cole…" he saw as Cole disappeared into the kitchen area.

**end of the Double Trouble episodes... BTW "The Great Race" chapters? Don't get confused or mad that the Raider isn't in it XD Just a heads up on that... I have something better planned! **

**Thanks for reading this... dayum... I am updating late... **

**~Mar**


	9. The Great Race

"The clones failed sir," a snake reported to Garmadon who was not in a good mood as it was. The serpentine was greeted with a smack to the snout. "And…" he coughed. "We found that the quaint little place in which the ninja train your son is overdue on rent my spies said…"

Garmadon seemed very interested in that.

"Darreth?" Kai opened the wood door and entered first with Nya. Darreth was lying around in the back of the dojo.

"What happened?" Cole raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

Darreth sighed, "Well, I wasn't able to pay rent and turns out they want this piece of land… for what I don't know! All I know is I've been so behind! Do you any idea what it's like to not have money?"

Everyone looked at each other awkwardly. "No…" they said together.

It was rather true, Kai and Nya were never really hurting for money with their business, Cole's line of worked paid him enough, Jay's parents were farmers and inventors so they were fine, Zane grew up with several kids who had enough and later the palace like everyone else.

"Darreth, I'm sure if we ask my uncle, he'll get you enough to pay off whatever," Lloyd looked up at the taller one in brown.

Zane sighed, "Actually no… we put a lot of money into the repairs for the castle…" he looked up at Darreth's downcast face, "Maybe though if it aren't too much…" he reassessed. "How behind are you exactly?"

"About eleven months…" Darreth quietly said.

"And they're just doing something about this now?" Jay's mouth dropped.

Darreth nodded and looked out a window, "A new person bought the land from the last… more… lenient owner… nice girl… uh; says if I can't come up with five hundred gold pieces by tomorrow night… I'm out of business and will have nowhere to go…"

"And that means no more coming here…" Kai folded his arms, exhaling slowly.

Nya lightly smacked his shoulder, "I for one care more about Darreth's business than training here," she frowned quietly.

Darreth looked up, "Hey, I can just stay with you guys-"

"No!" They all said abruptly.

Nya coughed, "We mean… we'll help you get the money!" she tried to smile. She took out a piece of parchment. "Saw this coming into the city today…"

"Ninjaball Run?" Kai, Cole, and Jay blinked, staring at the poster.

Zane and Lloyd looked at each other with grins, "That's a race where the winner gets a thousand gold pieces! It's a very big event this time of year. Lloyd enjoys watching it every year from his room. You can see almost everything in the city".

"And it's also the most dangerous race ever…" Darreth sighed. "You can enter with literally anything you can make or own… it's impossible to win though and most people crash and sometime get pretty hurt… I heard a guy once died!"

The six looked at one another, grins creeping on their faces. "Well, we're ninja; impossible is just what we can do!" Jay folded his arms with a smirk.

"You guys can enter with your dragons!" Nya hopped.

Lloyd looked up, "Can I enter too?!" he grinned. The five older teens looked at one another. "Pleeeease?! Nya and I can use the Ultrasonic Raider!"

Nya shook her head, "We can't, haven't finished it and it really needs about four people to work it… and my mech suit isn't fast enough to actually try compete with other people's carts and stuff…"

"Boys, I think we're gonna win a thousand gold pieces!" Kai grinned.

No one bothered to tell Wu about their attempts in saving Darreth's shop no matter how stupid and dangerous it was. The next morning the six mounted on the dragons and flew to the meeting place of the race, at the city square.

The competition looked pretty good. Lots of people from the valley came all the way to compete and get front rows seats for the special event.

"Dad!" Cole grinned as he slid off Rocky. "I didn't know you were going to enter!"

His father hugged him. "Well, the guys talked me into it… the others should be somewhere in the stands… are you competing?"

"On Rocky, yea," he patted his dragon's thick neck. "Kai, Zane, and Jay are entering on their own too… we're uh, trying to help a friend."

Daisie ran over and kissed Kai and Nya on the cheek each. "I heard about what you're doing! Good luck! I hope one of your four win the money for your friend!"

"Hey you should meet Darreth!" Nya smiled.

Daisie shook her head, "'fraid I can't…" she looked around. "I'm joining Jay's parents in the race!" She excitedly said in a half whisper.

Jay saw his own parents with the horse drawn carriage they probably supped up in some crazy way… they have been known to do that in the past. In fact it would be their fourth year in a row they went to compete.

Plenty of people from around the city were entering as well. The race would be dangerous; it started in the Imperial City itself and led through the valley country side, through Birchwood forest, and the last stretch was through the desert strip, finish line at the city square.

Everyone lined up, whether on dragon, horseback, cart, or… whatever else anybody could try to build, were side by side and in columns.

"Good luck guys!" Nya, Darreth, and Lloyd waved from the stands.

"AND BE SAFE SWEETIE! We're not gonna go easy!" Kai looked over and saw Daisie with Jay's parents and rubbed his hand down his face in embarrassment.

Overhead a shadow appeared. The ninja looked up; it was their Bounty.

"Garmadon!?" Cole's mouth dropped.

The dark lord looked over the side, glaring down at the group.

"Looks like a last minute entry?" one of the judges whispered to the other who shrugged.

The girl waved the flag down to signal to go so no one had any time to question it. The ninja snapped their reigns and took off; everyone below them just about keeping up with them.

The four kept side by side, wanting to pass the line together, at the same time, keeping their eyes on Garmadon. They didn't know how he was connected; all they knew was the probably didn't want them to help their friend get his shop back out of spite.

**See? More liberties being taken. I'm sort of happy I didn't use Ultra and just did super versions of the original four... it sort of ends up working better, especially later on in part 4... I liked Ultra Dragon but... ya know, I always loved the regular ones... that and I didn't want Lloyd to compete because he's a 'prince' and Wu would get totally pissed Lloyd's guardians would let him go off and almost DIE.**

**Looking back, though I hated when it came to writing these chapters... I reread them and I'm like "Hell yea look at that decent and okay idea I did with that part"**

**Thanks for reading**

**~Mar**


	10. Faster than Lightning

The path curved out of the city and into the forest, it was brief at the speed they were going because they zoomed into the farmlands that Jay knew too well. "Follow me guys! I know this place like the back of my hand!" the blue ninja laughed

"Notice you had a cut on the back of it?" Cole passed him.

Jay took his attention away from what was ahead and looked down at his hand, not paying attention; a low branch smacked his face. "Made ya look!" Cole laughed.

Jay angrily shook the leaves out of his hair and leaned forward, Wisp going faster to catch up with the others again.

In a straight line, the other three filed behind Jay this time. Below was Ed, Edna, and Daisie in the carriage. "Hey guys!"

Kai rolled his eyes. "Hey Daise!" he looked over his shoulder. He really did love her. She was not the competitive type and that's what made her the best parent to him, she was just in it for the fun.

Back in the city, everyone was distracted by the race that day. Skales looked both ways and swiped the keys from a sleeping guard who probably had a little too much to drink. He and the other three generals hurried out of the jailhouse and grabbed the police cart and snapped the reigns.

He zoomed past the starting line, leaving the judges thinking he was another late entry. "Serpentine!?" they heard one of the spectators shout. He kept catching up to some the lagging entries, just in time to catch up to the main crowd in the Birchwood Forest.

The ninja were flying in a v formation, dodging through the trees, bewaring of any treehorns. As they remembered, that was not a pleasant experience. They heard a bit of a crash and Jay looked down.

"Mom! Dad!"

Kai looked too. "Daisie!"

Cole noticed too, "Aw… my dad crashed into them!" he wiped his face. "None of them can drive can they?"

Jay guided Wisp down, the other following. "Jay! Let's go!" Zane shouted.

The others followed him down anyways though. "You guys okay?" Kai pulled Daisie out of the snow.

"Just fine," she fixed her red brown hair and dusted snow powder off her pink skirt. "Go on boys! Win that money!" she wooped with a hop.

Cole looked back. "Dad? You okay too?"

"Just fine son! Go on, do as she says now!" he shooed them off as well.

The ninja quickly mounted again and took off, especially seeing that the Bounty was sailing overhead, taking the lead.

They got out of the snowy forest and around a mountain, entering the desert strip that was the homestretch to the finish line.

Nya was on the edge of her seat as they came into sight, hoping the four would succeed. Lloyd leaned against her shoulder and she put an arm around him, rubbing his narrow shoulder. Darreth sighed. "I feel like this is my fault if they get hurt…"

Nya glanced over. "Kind of is…" she started smiling. "Nah… you couldn't do anything else about it… don't worry about it… we're supposed to help those who cannot help themselves".

"I appreciate that Nya… thanks…" Darreth smiled.

"What are we going to do?" The serpentine on board the ship started panicking as the ninja pulled ahead. "We can't any faster!"

Garmadon finally had it with the creatures. "How about you lose the excess weight?"

The snakes looked at one another and gulped, knowing what the dark lord would do next to them. "W-what excess weight?"

Though the Serpentine were knocked off, they landed on the ninja, as Garmadon's intention. The dragons swayed back and forth as their riders had small fights with the snakes that hitched a ride. They gripped their saddles as the dragons did barrel rolls in the air, slowing down. The serpentine didn't get a good hold and slipped off, into the desert sands below.

"Aren't you going to do something!?" Slitheraa hissed to Garmadon.

The dark lord turned to him. "Using the mega weapon can drain me of energy if I overuse it you fool! Then who will be the one to smack you around to get the ship moving?" there was a short pause and Slitheraa looked at him, not following. Garmadon struck him around the snout and growled. "GET THE SHIP MOVING!"

"ALMOST THERE!" Cole shouted over the intense winds a small sand storm was probably whipping up.

"We're gonna win!" Jay laughed with delight seeing they were ahead of the game.

Behind them the Bounty was catching up, "Company!" Kai shouted.

Garmadon finally decided to use the mega weapon, "Can't destroy… only create… so… create an obstacle…" he muttered to himself. "I wish for a device to take their dragons out!"

The serpentine manned cannons, aiming at the dragons the ninja rode. It was a little hard to aim when they were all moving. But sure enough, Kai was the first to get taken out. Flame's wing got injured, a joint bending in a strange and unnatural way.

Kai dismounted and looked it over. "Damn it…" he brushed the webbing of the wing. "We'll take care of ya when we get back… don't worry buddy…"

Shard was the next to go down and Jay was thankful that Wisp was the faster of the four. He was far ahead of Cole when Rocky went down.

"Get the blue one!" Garmadon ordered.

"Trying to sir!" Snappa looked scared. "The lightning ninja's too fast!"

"GO JAY GO!" Cole, Kai, and Zane shouted together, seeing Jay going through the final stretch. He was far ahead of the Bounty.

"COME ON WISP!" Jay leaned forward more, thinking it would make them go faster. Wisp's wings glided over the blowing air and the finish line was crossed.

Wisp landed in the square. Rocky, Flame, and Shard were weakly flying low and collapsed at Wisp's sides, seeming to congratulate their fellow.

Cole and Kai set Jay up on their shoulders. "Go Jay go!" the shouted together, laughing. Jay pumped his fists in the air, taking his goggles off his sweaty head.

"THEY DID IT!" Nya shouted, picking Lloyd up on her shoulders, throwing their fists in the air excitedly with one hand on his knee to support the boy from falling. She ran down to the square with Darreth close behind, switching Lloyd to her arms.

"Faster than lighting! The might lightning ninja takes all!" Jay laughed, running in a circle while the others laughed.

Lloyd jumped from Nya's arms and tackled Jay who caught him. Cole let the prince sit on his broader shoulders when Jay let go.

Nya threw everything she had into a tackle, and knocked her blue ninja on his back on the ground, sealing their lips together. Jay's eyes widened when she did that and he sat up with her on his lap, hugging her from behind.

Jay gave half of the winnings to Darreth which would be more than enough to pay off the place for his own and would split the rest up five ways for the five ninja.

Garmadon was off the Bounty, furious that the lightning refused to be hit. "You snakes are the worst! You can't even fly my ship!"

"Your ship?" Lloyd growled. The ninja stood behind him, ready to strike.

Skales and the generals rode up next to them. "Get in if you want to live!" The dark lord complied and got in with the many other underlings who were hanging on.

The ninja looked up, they'd undo the dark paint job and everything, but they still got their beloved ship back.

**Woo! Yay Jay :D Yea I had some fun with this... I love the next one even more... lol... However... it's more or less a hybrid of 3/4 episodes the next chapter set... **

**Thanks for reading ;) **

**~Mar**


	11. A Chance Meeting

Misako smiled and tilted her head as she watched the ninja's happy victory in the city square. Lloyd looked so happy and seemed to fit right in as a ninja with the other older ones. "He already has a perfect a family… he never needed me or Garmadon…" she turned her attention to her husband and his snakes.

She grimly watched as Garmadon escape the ninja after his loss. "Why does he even try? Lloyd will never join him now…" she mumbled to herself.

Misako walked back to the Caves of Despair. She leaned back against the wall and yawned. She just wished she could be with her boy again like how it always should have been. She looked out and took a breath in. "He'll be at Ouroboris probably…" she frowned, getting ideas in her head.

"No doubt Garmadon will be in Ouroboris… what with the Serpentine under his control now…" Wu folded his hands together. "And I never mention this… but there is… a place called the Dark Island…" he looked around. "If all that I have read is… true… then… my brother will end up there eventually…"

"What of the mega weapon? Can we get our weapons back?" Jay asked anxiously.

Wu sighed, "I'm afraid I wouldn't know how to undo that one…" he looked down. "Garmadon always paid attention when it came to the golden weapons… if my father had a way to undo it, I wouldn't have remembered…"

"Great…" Cole let out a short breath. "Well… I'm goin up top… got three injured dragons that need some care…" the earth ninja got up from the table. "Uh… you guys want to help?"

The other three got up as well and followed the black haired ninja.

Wu's mind wandered to Misako who he knew had seen Garmadon more than a few times since last they met. No matter what his brother said or tried keep secret, it was true.

"Okay, we need to get our weapons back and Garmadon is probably in Ouroboris…" Cole laid out a map on their table upstairs. "The dragons are actually a lot better and can fly again being it's been a week but I decided to say that as an excuse…"

Nya and the others looked around, nodding. "We need to get them back… and maybe kick some dark lord butt while we're there," Kai grinned. They wouldn't take the Bounty, too obvious. They went up to the roof keep and mounted.

Night time in the desert was cool and windy. Misako kept a hand on the brim of her hood as she walked on. She wasn't a stranger to walking but it was what she would do when she got there that was hard for her to plan out.

She slipped through the gates and clutched her sword in her slender hands. A patrolling Fangpyre was walking around the corner and saw her. Before he could shout she took the blunt of the katana and hit him over the head and slipped past quickly, heart racing. Someone would see the body eventually.

She peered through several rooms until she found the right one. Before she did though, she saw something, most strange. Her hands started shaking. "A Grundle?" she quietly gasped. "Why would he have one here?"

Then she realized that Grundles were very rare creatures that were almost extinct. They hunted ninja and she knew that would be his purpose for this. Their son was not yet a full-fledged ninja so it would only hunt Wu and the four boys. "The lengths he would go to…"

She moved more quickly now, trying to find him. He seemed to listen to her and two weeks was a little overdue for a visit.

Misako opened the next door. He had his back to it, looking over the mega weapon but never heard her. She pulled the sheathed sword out, hoping it would make her entrance all the more menacing but she knew she could never seem that way to him.

"You're here for this right W-" he turned around. She looked just as surprised as he did when he started the sentence.

She straightened a little, "Didn't expect to see me then?" she raised a brow feeling she had some surprise on her side.

He leaned back, "No actually". He admitted. "But you're not going to take this from me… in fact you can't hold it… earlier another snake tried to pick it up and resulted in a pile of ashes…" he looked as the moon reflected on the gold staff part.

She still held onto her sword. His glowing red eyes shifted up after moments of silence and the two lunged forward, weapons clashing loud with a metal clang. He started laughing, "How bold you're getting…" he looked down at her. "I like it… I wish you were this way when we were together…" he smirked.

"I bet you do…" She pressed forward, moving her sword in a circular motion, weapons straightening in their masters' holds. "Flattering will get you nowhere my love…" she plainly said. "And I saw the Grundle on the way in…" she added.

"Then you know what I plan to do…" he didn't ask, expecting her to charge forward again.

She frowned, "I know you too well… you will never surprise me again after that night you betrayed us…" she narrowed her green eyes.

The full moon and clear sky created enough light to see. She finally moved forward into her next lunge when he dropped the mega weapon and pulled out another sword with his bottom left hand.

She was constricted by his four arms. Her right hand which held her sword was near his head, she almost landed the hit if he wasn't faster than her. Her left arm crossed and pulled by another of his arms, straining her muscle so she couldn't twist out.

"Looks like I still can surprise you after all," he brushed his nose against her temple, lightly laughing. She craned her neck away, nervously, feeling his hand slip down her hip to her leg through her skirt. She tried to shake herself free a couple of times but he was far stronger than her. "Now… how about we try this again?" he asked.

The ninja landed far away enough so the snakes couldn't spot them landing to sneak in. Lloyd and Nya tagged along and no one had any objections to that. Lloyd had as much right to go as anyone else.

The group quickly ran to the gates which were opened. Along the way they found a Fangpyre knocked out. They looked at one another curiously. "What happened to him?" Kai whispered. There was no visible marks other than a small welt on his temple.

"Drank too much and hit his head?" Cole shrugged. They continued on regardless, knowing that Garmadon would be around somewhere.

"That Grundle will do no good you know…" Misako looked away from him.

Garmadon frowned, "How do you know?"

She looked back to him, "You're as predictable as it comes; like I said… I know it will fail… just as those pirates, the ninja duplicates, and you trying to win that ridiculous race". What she didn't say was how she knew where to find him. Her eyes wandered down near the doorway.

She brought along most of her gear. In her shoulder bag which lay against the wall upon entrance, contained various ingredients for tea mixes or… as they were called anyways by the witch who used tea as a cover up.

The hand which held his sword sheathed it and she dropped her sword to the floor with a loud clang when her hand was gripped tighter. The second free hand took off her dark green cloak and held her closer. "You still look beautiful," he commented.

She looked down, "Can't say you look that bad either…" she admitted and turned her head away from him. She knew he was just playing with her but being she was technically a prisoner, she wouldn't accept it. "But I'm not here to compliment you". She held her head up. "So you should stop trying…" she blushed angrily.

"Just say it… I want to hear those words again…" he turned her head to him when she started ignoring him. "I'm closer than ever to have those ninja under my thumb. I _will_ win in the end…" He growled.

"All a delusion you know… I told you we cannot be together…" she clenched her teeth. "That's because you'll end up dead and I will remain alive…"

A pounding noise of several pairs of feet neared and he loosened his grip on her a little more. The six stopped in the doorway. "Garmadon," they growled together.

Wu looked around the hub where the ninja should have been; Lloyd too even. "Where is everyone?" he wondered. He then found the map on the table and sighed. "Oh no…" he folded it up and ran out.

"Who's she?" Cole pointed to the woman in his arms being restrained.

Jay's eyes widened, "Are we interrupting something?" he started turning red and wanted to slowly back up.

Lloyd tilted his head curiously and looked at Misako's face. He knew he knew it from somewhere and it made him want to run up and hug her.

Misako blew some wisps of silver hair from her green eyes and looked down at Lloyd. His own green eyes widened back, seeing the caring and strong eyes of the same color mirror his. "Hello my little boy… I have missed you so much…"

**So besides revising all of this fan fiction; I have a costume to make! I was originally going to be Lord Garmadon or the Eleventh Doctor again, however, seeing as my dad and brother were eager to help me; I'm making a costume for Mikasa from SNK! **

**I'll be making most of it myself but still, I'm excited to make it, especially the harnesses and gear. This will be my first cosplay I'm stitching together so to speak...**

**Ahem so enough of that! Thanks a bunch for reading! School's back in session eh? uuugh at least it's my last year...**

**~Mr**


	12. Get Out

"M-m-mom?" Lloyd took a step back. "What? You're… you're my mom?" the twelve year old's eyes stated watering over and Nya put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. Whatever feelings of safety that were with her were replaced by the beginnings of anger.

"My how handsome you are…" she smiled as her husband tightened his hold on her again. "Doesn't he look so much like you?" she snidely added look back at Garmadon.

"He has your eyes," he growled back.

Kai's brown eyes widened too. "I met you the day before I met Lloyd! At the Fire Temple!" Kai pointed to the older woman entwined in the dark lord's grip.

She nodded. "Yes Kai… I have watched over all of you…" she looked at Zane. "Zane… I knew your father… when I was young…" she shifted to each ninja. "I knew all of your parents… they were my good friends… _our _good friends…" she glared back at Garmadon.

"But let's cut the chatter…" Garmadon's claws dug into her waist just enough to make her suck in a sharp breath, not enough to bleed. The ninja's eyes shifted to the mega weapon. "You can't touch it… only I can handle it… you will end up like Samukai…"

Lloyd's cheeks had a few streaks of tears on it. "I thought you said you loved each other!" The ninja jumped. That had come out of nowhere. He looked at the swords on the floor. "And you tried fighting…"

"Lloyd," Misako's face grew warmer. "Lloyd I'm trying to get the mega weapon back… for your friends… I have been watching you… I see you train… go about your day… I've always been near… you've always been in my heart since I had to leave you behind…"

Lloyd's heart stopped. "You've been watching us this whole time?" it sounded like he was touched at first but it turned around. "And you didn't even bother to come by and see me and tell me you were okay!?"

"I know you must be mad… I am so sorry my baby… I had to leave you at the palace!" She started crying too.

"Why?" Lloyd asked.

Garmadon looked down at her. "Yes, I think I agree… why did you anyways?"

She bit her lip. "It was important! He had to spend as much time away from me! Away from you!"

Lloyd stared at both. For so long he dreamed that his mother and father would be together again, that he could be happy with his family and wanted to believe that what his father said about his mother was true about them. But the sight of this made him sick. They were fighting, on opposite sides.

Misako swallowed, looking at the ninja, "Be careful! He has a Grundle!" she warned them.

Zane seemed to be the only one who realized that meant trouble though. He looked back at the others, "it is a rare creature that hunts ninja…"

Misako sighed and found that Garmadon's grip on her left arm had slackened. With all the force she had, she elbowed him in the neck.

He choked on air for a moment and she was able to break from his arms and quickly picked up her fallen sword. "You gave me this sword… remember? I was fourteen…" she panted, hair coming undone from her long braid. She looked behind, "You should get out of here…" she straightened her stance. "I'll be just fine…"

"Not without that weapon," Kai snapped back.

"Or you can be eaten by a monster who's favorite snack is a ninja," she didn't look back and kept her eyes locked on the dark lord who drew his sword again. "Run and take Lloyd with you!" She ordered Kai who still stared. "I may have ran away; but I'm still royalty and you answer to the royal family samurai! Now go!"

As they left; Serpentine were coming out, awoken by the shouting and starting to charge at the ninja. Nya held out her sword and blocked an attack. "I wonder if… all four of you held the weapon… would you be okay?" she looked back, grunting as her arms absorbed each blow from her blade.

"We could wish the mega weapon away and into our weapons?" Jay blinked. Everyone else couldn't think of something better. It was a little too cliché for it to work.

"Best shot we have! Now come on! We need to grab it while Misako is distracting him!" Cole nodded. They ran back the way they came.

Misako moved faster than the dark lord, constantly blocking at the last moment. "I have spent eight years… honing this blade you gave me… it reminds me of the love we shared… how we would do anything for each other… to protect one another," she panted with each _shing _of the two swords scraping against the other_._

She missed by a hair and a bit of the blade cut a shallow notch in her waist, not deep but all the same, painful. She hissed upon contact and gripped the area. It bled on her hand but it was nothing life threatening if she kept going for a little bit. "You always said you wouldn't hurt me…" she let go of the throbbing area, laughing a little.

"You said you'd keep away… so far you're an excellent liar yourself…" he said as she started another attack. He went to block her next swing but expected it to be too low, slicing up into his exposed shoulder. He already had a small gash from when Zane fought him in the Underworld which felt like lifetimes ago for him.

He held his hand over the wound and leaned over, looking at her. "I can't kill you and it's not my place to," she held her head up and brought the sword back. "I love you… but what you're doing is wrong and you know it…"

The four boys sprang back inside the small room claimed by the fighting couple. Garmadon's eyes hardened. "RELEASE THE GRUNDLE!" he shouted.

A metallic clang was heard as gates to a cage were opened.

The four ninja looked behind them to see a hulking beast charging to them. Nya had started running to the gates of the city with Lloyd, they still had to keep the green ninja safe.

Misako's green eyes travelled to the bag that was thrown against the wall. With her husband wounded he couldn't move as fast and it was one less hand to grab her. She straightened and felt the sting of her side. Her hand that held the wound was red and sticky, that much she could tell with just the moon for light. If she could push past the pain and move, she could get away.

She grabbed the strap and slung over her shoulder running out with the ninja with the jolts of pain in her waist.

Near the gate, as the ninja ran from the beast, she mixed the leaves together, still remembering what to do. "Mystake, don't fail me now…" she breathed. She had a small glass jar of water and poured the mixture in, shaking it up.

"Here…" she met up with the ninja. She tossed it to Zane.

"You injured…" Zane looked at her right side. Her off white corset was absorbing more and more of her blood.

"Never mind me," she sternly said. "This will stop the Grundle…" she wiped her clean hand to move the hair sticking to her sweaty face.

Kai looked at her questionably. "What does it do?" they heard the monster's roar again. He didn't seem to really trust this woman after upsetting Lloyd.

"It is called Tomorrow's Tea… a potion that a… friend taught… it's basically tea leaves I suppose… all you need to know right now is that it will reduce the Grundle to bone… age it…" she looked behind them. "And we better use it quick too!" She gripped her sword.

She went to run but her bleeding wound throbbed again. "AH!" she hissed.

"You're injured!" Zane repeated and touched her shoulder.

"Light wound…" She admitted, "I'm sure my husband didn't mean it…" she bitterly said.

Jay looked around and spotted Lloyd and Nya. The girl in was red fighting off a trio of Venomari. "I'll help Nya and Lloyd!" The blue ninja started off.

With a spin of his blue Spinjitsu he knocked the three into a wall and out cold. "Come on, we gotta get to the gates of the city…"

"And the Mega Weapon?" Nya looked around.

Jay shook his head. "Can't worry about it now… Misako gave Zane something to kill the Grundle… we need to get her out of here too quickly; she's hurt…"

Lloyd bit his lip. His mom got hurt to let them escape. He started running before Nya and Jay started, eyes set on the way to get out.

"I'll take out the Grundle," Zane nodded.

"Mom!" Lloyd's eyes started tearing up again. He felt sorry he yelled at her. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was and just wanted everyone to get out of Ouroboris. Zane hurled the jar at the Grundle who was going to the right; right near Lloyd's path. When the sickly green smoke erupted there laid the skeleton of the Grundle.

Misako covered her mouth. "LLOYD!" she screamed.

**This story will be the death of me... reliving season 2 is like... a punch to my gut ya know? Especially this half of the story XD **

**Thanks for reading! :D **

**~Mar**


	13. This Isn't Fair

Garmadon ran out of his room when he heard his wife scream their son's name, looking around for any sign of the boy in green. His attention dragged to the Grundle skeleton. "Oh no…"

"If it killed the Grundle… what about Lloyd?" Cole looked back at the others.

Misako clutched a hand over her chest. "What if I used too much?" she started crying. "I could have killed my own son!"

A coughing noise could be heard from the pile of bones though. A hand, larger than Lloyd's, clawed the ground, trying to pull the body it was attached to out, hacking more.

From underneath an older teenager with longer, wispy blonde hair and a face that matched the dark lord's crawled out of the mess, choking on sand and dust. "Guys?" he looked up, face and hair filthy. He wiped sand from his eyes.

"Lloyd…" everyone quietly said, not even moving. The prince tried to get up on his own and everyone snapped out of their daze. "Lloyd!" they ran to him to help him out.

Lloyd stood on his feet; taller. "I'm…" he trailed off, looking at his hands.

"He's…" Misako paled. "In his eighteenth year…" she stumbled back to the ground, running her hand through her hair.

"MOM!" Lloyd looked behind his friends and knelt down.

Garmadon stared at his son helping his mother up. He started feeling his heart race. His son was no longer twelve. He must have been turned eighteen.

"No… no…" he shook his head. His little boy was no more. Now he was almost at full potential to take him down. It was all falling apart. "This isn't fair…" he shook his head. "This isn't fair…" he quietly repeated to himself.

"We need to get the mega weapon…" Lloyd looked up. "Go on…" He gripped his hand on Misako's narrow shoulder. "Mom? Think you can run?"

"I'm fine… and…" she started crying, touching his cheek. "And I'm sorry…" she touched foreheads with him. "I'm so sorry for doing this to you… for leaving you…"

"I'm sorry for yelling at you!" he snapped back and hugged her tightly.

When Garmadon turned around, not bearing to look at them anymore; all four ninja had a hand on the mega weapon. "How-" he swallowed.

"We're really fast," Jay smirked. "And you were distracted."

"You're touching it… and not dying?" the dark lord frowned.

Zane nodded, "We were the chosen to guard these weapons… we are sharing the load of magical energy, naturally we wouldn't die…"

"We wish the mega weapon would be no more," Cole's dark gray eyes hardened, glaring at the dark lord who just stood there and watched.

The gold weapon lit up and glowed brighter and brighter, just like when the four weapons changed into the creatures. But they did not separate like how the boys thought it would.

The weapon flew out of the four teens' hands and into the night sky; a gold light glowed in the heavens and a star was in its place.

They were all speechless; they didn't expect it to happen that way. In fact, they couldn't even move from the shock that they were in. The four ninja and the dark lord stared at the sky.

"I… what?!" Kai shook his head. "What the hell was that!?" he looked at the others who shrugged.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" a new voice boomed, loud and strong.

"Wu…" Misako closed her green eyes and whispered with tears.

The ninja started running again; they could talk about the golden weapons later. The Bounty was just outside the gates, Wu, Lloyd, Misako, and Nya got on board first. As the ship took off, Garmadon clenched his teeth. He was beaten and now his wife would provide the ninja with everything they would need to win.

He lowered his head, a hot tear rolling down his cheek. "I'm sorry I hurt you Misako…" He didn't feel like being evil for once in his life. He wanted to be just Garmadon again. The one Misako Alexander loved. The one he could have been.

"How could everything go wrong in one night?!" he balled his four hands into fists and looked up. "THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

**AKA the third chapter in the emotional turmoil and angsting as a family chapter set! :D **

**Did I throw you a curve with what I did with the weapons? Psh you know I did XD Anyways, I actually wasn't ll too fond of "Wrong Place, Wrong Time" because it was sort of a bit of a plot hole if you look at it...**

**So thanks for reading! **

**~Mar**


	14. Family

Misako leaned back, on the floor of the deck, inside. Nya was trying to clean treat the wound. No doubt Garmadon's swords were a little filthy.

The younger girl kept glancing up at the older woman, debating whether to start a conversation. "You know… this is supposed to hurt more than you're reacting… I've seen worse reactions to a paper cut…" she commented with a hint of a smile. She was referring to Lloyd.

Misako pressed her lips together. "Having my husband be to one to give me it hurts a little more," she sighed. "Wu would call me childish for chasing after what could have been…" The older woman patted Nya on the shoulder, "I hope you and Jay would have a happier ending the one my family will share in…"

The young samurai slowly nodded, "Well… Garmadon would have been king right? I guess… royalty isn't all it's cracked up to be right?"

The green eyed one nodded in agreement, "Oh yes I would have wanted the life you and your brother must have had… just a regular life with no curse and being related the first king of Ninjago…" she rested her head back on the wall while Nya unfurled some bandages.

"So… was he always like… tall, black, and power hungry?" Nya was truly curious of what her enemy was like or if he always was like this.

"Heavens no!" Misako laughed. "In fact… he was quite the looker when we were young… every girl in the court flocked around him… except me because he always dragged me around to play so I knew his real nature… and I was the only girl who refused to suck up to my best friend".

"So you were… always friends? Since you were kids?" Nya blinked her brown eyes.

"Oh yes… since we were babies; our mothers were very good friends. I guess it was strange at first when we felt something a little… _more _than friendship when we were forced to act according to our "royal duties"… guess we hated the system together…"

Nya sat on her butt, "That's right, you were arranged to marry Wu right?" she could already tell in short time Misako was on board that her and Wu once probably shared something.

Misako didn't look forward to going into that, "I suppose… it looked that way… that we would have been happy and I could have been… Garmadon… needed me though I guess… guess his father saw that too…" she started laughing a little… "You should have seen Garmadon on our wedding day… stumbling through every vow while he stared, dazed at me… it was kind of adorable… a little like what I could see Jay doing…"

Nya blushed fiercely and looked away, "Us; get married? Oh don't… I mean maybe but we just started and who knows if it will work out!" she waved her hands as she quickly talked.

"Okay okay Nya… fine," Misako quickly put her hands on the teenager's shoulders to calm her down a little. "I just meant that… Jay's a little bit like how my husband use to be… around me anyways…"

"Yea… I uh…" The black hired teen coughed, "Mind me taking the corset off? Be easier to tie this".

"Of course," Misako sat upright and found the string that held the ruined piece of clothing on her upper body.

Lloyd poked his head in a little, seeing his mother and Nya talk. He had been listening for several minutes; she seemed so open and kind; she never even met Nya before and here they were talking like old friends.

"I was too mean back in Ouroboris…" the blonde sighed heavily to himself. She did care about him and because of that she got hurt.

Nya looked up when she noticed Lloyd. "Hey Lloyd…" she smiled. _"I wonder how it must feel to be young one minute and then so much older the next…" _she silently thought to herself.

Misako looked over when Lloyd sat down next to her. "Are you gonna be okay?" he sat shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Yes… you're lucky to have Nya… brave… smart… kind…" She ruffled his longer locks of blonde hair with a smile.

"Thank you your highness," Nya bowed her head at the compliment. She helped Misako slip her arm through the right sleeve and started tying the bandages.

Lloyd looked at his hands. "…three months ago… I had a dream about you…" he looked up; their matching eyes meeting. "But… it wasn't a dream… was it?"

Misako sighed, "Yes… it was really me… because I hadn't touched you for eight years…" she kissed his forehead. "I always loved you… you were not just my light but you're father's too…"

"Dad told me that…" Lloyd nodded. "He said that… it was hard for you to have…"

Misako lightly laughed, "Oh you should have seen his face when he heard you crying… he tried to hide how scared he was about being a father though… I wish none of this happened as much as you do…" Lloyd looked at his feet and nodded.

He leaned his head against hers, "I… why does it have to be us? Why did we have to be royalty? Why be put in this terrible position?"

Misako raised her shoulders in a shrug, "I guess… no one has a say in who they can be… it is all destiny…" _Unless… I could find a way to change that_…

She kissed his cheek. "I know you and your friends have handled things beautifully, so you can do this".

"How does that feel?" Nya asked cutting the material.

"Much better, thank you Nya," Misako nodded.

She stood up and walked out. "Gonna leave you two alone…" she shut the door behind her to go downstairs.

Wu was waiting outside and Nya jumped a little. "Sorry," he quickly apologized. "She's okay?"

"Yes sir," Nya smiled and walked past him to the rooms below to find the boys. She looked back though as Wu stepped closer to the door. She wondered if there was something else beyond the average concern, if Misako was right about when they were younger.

"Okay… so… what's the deal? Why were you with dad… like… like that…?" Lloyd placed his chin on the tops of his knees. "I saw the swords so… you obviously… tried to hurt each other… did he try to kill you before we got there?"

Misako laughed, "Like I said… I know how much your friends wanted their powers back… but it looks like that won't be happening anytime soon…" she patted his shoulder. "And… it was your father who pulled me into that position… he's a lot stronger than I am, and all he did was restrain me… it was me who attacked him first…" she admitted.

Lloyd's emerald eyes widened but she tapped his nose. "And you look just as handsome as he was".

Lloyd blushed, picking at his nails. "Did you guys really love each other?" he looked up. "Or was it some kind of arranged marriage thing so you _had _to learn to love each other?"

"I was just telling Nya this; Of course we did love each other… and well… let's just say we tricked your grandfather into deciding on us." There was a bit of a twinkle in her eye. "But of course… things changed… and I like to think he still loves me…" she looked down at the blood splotches on the white bandages. "He just… doesn't know how to show it… a lot". She lightly laughed.

Lloyd snorted, "Yea well… I kind of wish that he still didn't want anything to do with me since I was the green ninja… it'd make things a lot easier…"

"He's been confused and scared since he left us," Misako slowly lifted herself to her feet. Lloyd stood up too. "But… he allowed the venom to take over… he still loves us… but he was the one who made this decision… we just have to live with his mistake…"

Niether said a word for several moments so she put a hand around Lloyd and stood up straight. "Come on…" Lloyd quietly said, "I'm sure Nya won't mind you staying in her room," Lloyd smiled and helped her out.

Nya was folding over a couple of blankets and through down a couple pillows when Lloyd and Misako walked in. She started out the door, "I'm gonna go and find the others… probably grabbing a midnight snack… we'll be at the castle soon but might as well get some rest now". Nya walked past. Lloyd followed her out.

Misako sat on the edge of Nya's bed and sighed. "My, what a mess this is…" she undid the braid tie and ran her fingers through her long hair as it unraveled in long silver waves.

She heard the door creak open. It was Wu. She looked over. "Hi…" he quietly said.

"Hello…" she looked at her hands.

"Are you…"

"Yea," she nodded, palming the slowly bleeding area. "Nothing bad… it'll be just a scar with a little time…" she pressed her lips together. "Just like all things".

Wu stepped in more, the door shutting behind him. "He did it though… he hurt you…" He leaned against with his hands behind his back.

Misako sighed, "Yes… I know…" she nodded. He stood upright again and sat next to her. "What did you want?" she swallowed and looked at him, half wanting to be alone right now.

"A last request I guess…" he kept his voice quiet. "Have you rethought about… us?"

Her hands fidgeted in her lap. He slipped his hand in hers. "Please… I can't think of any of that now…" she shook her head. "I am staying because I need to help my son… and maybe even save… _him_…"

"He hurt you on purpose and you continue to stand by him-"

"I don't-" she trailed off and sighed. "I don't stand by his actions at all… I just… I guess I know he _could_ come back…" she looked at him, putting a hand up. "Please… I'm… tired…" she shifted away.

"I see then…" their hands let go and he stood up. "Goodnight Misako…"

**Yawn; right? Blah blah blah family and love and memory lane... **

**Too bad; more action in the following chapters ;) **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	15. Legend of Shadow

The Bounty landed just before daybreak and everyone quickly went inside, exhausted physically and emotionally from the night before.

Hardly anyone in the castle recognized Lloyd now that he was much taller and more built. He didn't feel like being alone so he followed Nya and the four guys upstairs. Nya let Lloyd take her bed and since Kai was sprawled out on his own and out cold, she plopped down next to Jay, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

Misako sucked in a breath before twisting the knob to the old white door. She opened it to find the big bed with the green comforter tucked under the mattress neatly, no wrinkles. The violet drapes still covered the windows.

"So… no one touched this room since I left…" she looked down at her feet before taking a step on the purple carpet.

"I never opened once… it in case you were wondering".

She turned her head in surprise. "Thanks…" she quietly nodded and stepped in more, sitting down. "I… would like to be alone Wu…"

Wu nodded and walked out, shutting the door for her.

She lay back on the left side of the bed, folding her arms around herself. "What are you doing now? Now that you lost your greatest weapon?"

"Go on! Move it!" Garmadon snapped at the serpentine. They had quickly moved from Ouroboris to by the ocean side, it took them all night, after all that happened; the dark lord was even more determined to take over.

"Are we still going through with the plan?" Acidious whispered to Skales.

The Hypnobrai leader nodded and slithered along with Fangtom and Skalidor. "Sir what are we doing exactly?" Skalidor asked Garmadon.

The dark lord looked back at the four slithering towards him. "Finding the Dark Island… I heard my father spoke of it years ago… he said the greatest power of evil is located there…" He turned back around, standing close to the edge of the cliff.

"Ah, I see…" Skales backed away while the others moved ahead of him, they exchanged several nods. "NOW BOYS!"

Skalidor, Fangtom, and Acidious restrained Garmadon. "What are you doing?!" the dark lord growled.

"Taking back our pride!" Skales laughed. "Now… _OVER THE SIDE_!" he shouted and pointed. "Oh… but first… Skalidor? Mind knocking him over the head?"

"What!?" was Garmadon last thought. Before Skalidor's powerful tail hit him.

Hours of sleep later, the ninja dragged themselves out and downstairs. "Okay… what are we planning to do next?" Cole leaned forward, hands supporting his weight on the long wood table.

"We are going to the Dark Island…" Misako walked out with a big scroll in her arms. Her hair was tied back in a loose, untidy braid and now wore simple and loose white and tan clothing. She looked strikingly different then when they met her the night prior. "That's… where Garmadon would go next…"

The ninja stared at her. The Dark Island was something that Wu had mentioned the other day. The teens had heard the stories and legends of the Dark Island but never an exact story.

"You mean the place bad kids go if the disobey their elders?" Jay swallowed.

The two adults looked at him with a frown. "No… The Dark Island is home to… unspeakable creatures…" Wu shook his head. "My father had been there before… a long time ago with my mother before my brother and I were around…" he looked at the others, "People use the legends as stories for misbehaving children though".

"No one has gone to that part of the country since the Shadow War though…" Misako tucked hair behind her ears to keep out of her eyes.

"War?" The ninja and Nya blinked. "There was a war we never heard of?"

Wu sat, "You know of the wars between the north provinces and the kingdom and then some… but there was an ancient war… at the beginning of time…"

Misako looked down at the map of the two islands. They were shaped like dragons when you looked at them right. "The war was between the First Spinjitsu Master… the first king who died before Lloyd was even born… and there was the Overlord…" her hands balled up.

"The ultimate evil… when the world was created… when you have light, shadows will be cast… and in shadow there is darkness…" he closed his eyes. "The Great Devourer and Serpentine was… more or less a result of the Overlord… and that Garmadon is who he is…"

The six teenagers sat and just nodded. "King Masuta had fought against the soldiers of the Overlord's army; the Stone Army. He could no longer fight and so he split the land which had been one, so that he may live to fight another day."

"And now the island is sealed off and many ships were lost trying to get there… but we can make it through," Misako smiled. "Because we have your amazing flying ship".

"When do we set sail?" Zane asked.

"As soon as possible… gather the supplies, and ready to board". Wu ordered. "We leave now!"

"Yes sir!" The six bowed and ran out.

Misako folded up the maps and slid them into her case and slung it around her shoulders. "You know…" Wu started. "It is a lot easier now that you decided to show yourself for once".

"You know I always liked to work undercover," she smirked and started walking out, still feeling the sting of last night's wound in her side. "I always hated being fussed over…"

"Are you sure you'll be fine though?"

She nodded, "I can handle anything that island will throw at me…" She licked her lip and slung the scroll case over her shoulder and walked out. "Now come… I should give Nya the map so she may steer us in the right direction…"

**Dark Island stuff! Yay! I love those episodes ;u; Thanks for reading! **

**~Mar**


	16. Hellos and Farewells

"Where the hell am I?" Garmadon held his forehead. The sun was beating down on him. He was obviously out for some time.

He sat up to look at his new surroundings and found himself on a beach with pure white, soft sand. He looked over and found his helmet washed up on the shore near him. He stood on his feet and picked it up. There was more wear on it than normal and a few small cracks in the dark metal.

"You won't be needing that…"

Garmadon looked up quickly. "Who's there?"

From the foliage the beach lead into; a figure cut his way through; with white and red kabuki like make up with red armor and helmet and tall warrior bright green eyes. He also had four arms just like Garmadon.

"Who are you?" Garmadon demanded.

"General Kozu," he bowed low. "And we have been waiting for you a very long time…" he stood up, "Follow me".

Garmadon frowned and hesitated before following the strange looking general into the island's overgrown jungle. Ignoring what Kozu said, he put the helmet back on his head.

* * *

"What's this?" Daisie opened the door, surprised at a visitor.

Kai and Nya were standing in the doorway, "We're leaving and we don't know when we'll be back… we came to say goodbye," the twins smiled and hugged her together.

"Thanks for telling me…" she kissed both of their cheeks. "Where are you going?" she smiled.

The two looked at one another nervously, "The Dark Island…" they said together quietly.

Her face went blank. They expected that from her. She knew some things about the Dark Island. In her years of watching over them and their four childhood friends, she herself told the tale of how the Lord Garmadon and his ancient warriors would drag them off and torture them if they did bad things, she never really believed in it though.

"Be… be careful… okay?" she looked up with hazel green eyes. Her hands clasped together tightly, tears in her eyes. "Watch out for each other… got it?"

"You got it," Kai winked. "We're gonna go meet up with others now…" The two started back. "Bye Dais…"

Cole opened the door without knocking. His father was in his usual place, next to the fireplace, feet propped up on a stool. "Well; look what the cat dragged in," Louis laughed and stood up. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Cole hugged him tightly before saying anything. "I'm leaving for the Dark Island with everyone in a half an hour…"

"If you don't come back, Cam will kill you," Louis chuckled.

Cole straightened up a little, "At… auntie's house then?"

His father nodded, "Yes… I'll make sure to say where you went the next chance I get… now… you should get going if you're leaving so soon".

Cole nodded and started out again to meet up with the rest of the team at the Bounty.

Jay hugged his parents one last time before letting go and starting off as well. "I promise, I'll come back unscathed," he gave a thumbs up.

"Did you pack extra undergarments?" Edna asked before Jay could leave. Lloyd and Zane had accompanied Jay to the little house and started laughing upon hearing the question.

Jay blushed, "Mother…" he whined. "I'll be fine!"

"Just making sure you'll have clean clothes!" Edna kissed his cheek. "And each your vegetables!" Jy covered his face as the two blondes laughed more.

"Good luck boys!" Ed waved as the three ninja walked up the trail to the rendezvous point where Misako and Wu would be waiting for them. Kai, Nya, and Cole arrived last and they set sail before noon, hoping to make it by night fall.

* * *

Garmadon was led to a large tribal camp filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of smaller versions of Kozu only with black and yellow, red, or blue skin.

They all stopped to watch as Kozu led Garmadon through the camp into the center tent. The tall general of the creatures uncovered a black helmet with a twisted metal charm on it. He picked it up and held it out to Garmadon.

"What's that?" Garmadon cautiously asked before stepping in more.

Kozu grinned, "It is what we have been waiting for… for you to take it and lead us…"

Garmadon hesitated, "What will happen if… I take it?"

"You will have total command… and will get to meet… the master," Kozu's green eyes seemed to glow in the darkly lit tent.

Garmadon bit the inside of his lip and then removed his Underworld helmet and tossed it to the side. He then swiped the helmet away from the general and placed it on his own head. "And now I will rule Ninjago".

* * *

Misako sat up on her pile of blankets, heart racing. She looked up at the ceiling, lying back down, removing the hair that stuck to the back of her neck. She found it hard breathe, trying to convince herself it was only a dream. "I have a bad feeling about this…" she shut her eyes again.

**Thanks for reading :)**

**~Mar**


	17. Old Friend

Everyone was asleep when the thunder roared and the ship started rocking back and forth as the black clouds rolled in. Cole was the first to jump out of bed and help Nya with closing the sails because they'd rip from huge gusts of wind. Zane and Kai were next and then Lloyd, Wu and Misako. Jay was huddled in the cabin below deck.

"Come on Jay!" Kai called.

"We'll throw you overboard if you don't help!" Nya growled angrily as she pulled with the boys. Her muscles were strained and their hands were red from the course rope slipping between their tightly curled fingers, rope burns stinging.

After much convincing, Jay ran up and decided to help them but it was too late; the wind already ripped a hole through the biggest sail, rocking the ship back and forth, out of even more control.

Nya left the boys and Misako to hold everything down as she ran to the steering wheel and tried to steer it back up straight. The wheel spun out of control, one of the handles smacking her in the face. "OW!" she held a hand to her face, vision going fuzzy around the edges.

"IS THAT THE DARK ISLAND?!" Zane was clinging for dear life to the railing of the ship with Cole and Kai.

Misako fell forward and banged her head on the rail, almost falling off but Lloyd and Cole pulled her back by her skirt. Wu was sliding around on deck himself. "That's it alright!" She rubbed her forehead and looked out where Zane was looking.

"I lost total control!" Nya clung to the doorway; Jay wrapped his arms around her to anchor himself from sliding around the slick wood deck.

The ship lurched more to the left, hurtling towards the island and everyone screamed upon impact.

The old white haired man looked up when he heard the screams and the sound of wood breaking and trees snapping, the small shack he lived in shook. He put his glasses back on and dropped what he was doing to run out and see who it was.

The wreckage of the Bounty wasn't all that bad but it was enough to make everyone unconscious when they banged their heads on the hard deck. He found the eight bodies on deck and looked over each one for serious injury.

"Well now… I never thought I'd see you again," he chuckled, when he moved Misako's unraveled hair from her face and looked at Wu's body. "It's been a while Misako and Wu". He looked at Nya and each boy, coming across Zane.

He paused when he got to the white ninja. "Zane…" he whispered and touched the young man's face. "You found me at last…" he smiled.

* * *

"Who is your leader?" Garmadon looked around. He heard Kozu mention this "leader" plenty of times but never saw him.

Kozu bowed, "He will be with us soon enough my lord but right now; I must take some men to investigate a magical flying ship that apparently crashed during the storm very early this morning".

Garmadon's eyes widened. "Flying ship?"

* * *

Kai's brown eyes slowly opened, a headache pounding in the back of his skull, making him want to throw up whatever they had for breakfast on the flight over.

Through his blurry vision he saw the bodies of his friends lying on the ground next to him. He almost started panicking but saw that they were breathing and sighed with relief. They were inside somewhere and he saw an old man with his back towards them at a desk. Kai sat up all the way.

"Oh good, looks like someone is awake," the old man turned with a smile. Something seemed familiar about him but Kai didn't know.

Around him the others stirred as well. Misako wiped her eyes from under her skewed glasses and looked up. "Samuel?" she covered her mouth. Wu looked at him in disbelief as well.

"Misako… Wu… I'm surprised you even remembered me…" he chuckled. "How you two changed…" he commented with warm smile.

Zane snapped alert at the sound of "Samuel". "Father?" he started shaking.

"Zane…" he hugged the android. "So happy that you found me after all these years!" He patted the blonde on the head, chuckling.

They all looked up at the old inventor, confused. "Zane said he saw you die when he found that memory switch thing inside of him…" Jay pointed at him and backed up. "Are you ghost!? Are we all dead?!" he looked around as everyone rolled their eyes.

Julien laughed, "Well I did die like what Zane said he saw… but what you didn't know was that Samukai, under orders of Lord Garmadon, had me locked away in a tower not far off the coast of Nnjago… I designed many things for him because he threatened to kill my son…" he looked to the white ninja.

"But how do you guys know him?" Lloyd looked to his uncle and mother.

Wu smiled, "Well, believe it or not he was our tutor back when we were children…"

"We learned many a trick from him… all of us knew him… Rosie… Ed, Edna… Kasai and Namiko… and … oh what was the other boy's name?" she frowned. "But… anyways… after the first bout of wars with the north, he disappeared not long after I married Garmadon…"

"I hid away in Birchwood forest where I could remain neutral in the wars," he chuckled. "Then I guess I grew accustomed to living alone even after they were over and made you Zane," he nodded at his 'son'.

"If you were locked away in a tower… how did you end up here?" Nya frowned, not understanding that part.

Julien nodded, "Well, after several years, no one came back for me… Actually, it was only several months ago I left the tower in a small boat I built and well, a storm hit and I woke up here just like what happened to you… I then rebuilt the boat into this house… I hide away from the stone warriors that live here and they haven't found me yet!"

"Stone warriors?" Jay swallowed. Everyone exchanged glances.

"Then we'll have to lay low," Wu nodded. "Even if they know we're here, they cannot find us". He looked at Julien, "Would it be alright if we stayed here as our base camp?"

"Of course, it'd be my pleasure!" the older one smiled.

The five ninja looked up at Wu and nodded, "First though…" Cole sat back against the table leg, arms folded. "Why are we here?"

Misako held her head up, "Garmadon is here… and here is where he will get all the power in the world and the Overlord will use him…"

"What is the first thing you want us to do?" Nya asked.

Wu stood up, "For starters… can we make sure the ship is flyable for a quick escape?"

Julien looked out the window and gapes at the ship. "You mean it can fly? That was what that crash was?! I thought you just hit the shoreline too hard!"

Wu put a hand on Nya and Jay's shoulders, "Built by Ninjago's finest inventors". He praised them. The two teens' cheeks went pink at the compliment.

"Nya, Wu, and I will remain here with Julien," Misako looked around. "You five are going to find something called The Temple of Light". She tossed a gold medallion to Cole who looked through the hole at the top. "When the holes line up, the center light will be the place to go… good luck". She smiled. "When you get there the green ninja will strike the instrument of peace and he will know the power of the First Spinjitsu Master". She looked at the other four, "And even you four will regain your elemental powers".

The five didn't question it and just went with it, sort of excited that they would get new powers to fight this so called "Stone Army". Lloyd looked back as they trudged through the sands and into the jungle, wondering if they were nearing the end of their journey.

**Whoo, finally we're here on the Dark Island. I guarantee you, shit shall go down in a similar but with new spin. So thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	18. Belly of the Beast

"Master is here!" Kozu's gruff and gravelly voice boomed to the other stone creatures as they scuttled around their little camp. Once the words were uttered they seemed to pick of the pace even more, lining up at a ready attention.

The so called Overlord was nothing but a glowing mass of purple toned smoke and had no real body. Garmadon looked at it with his mouth open. "You must be joking…"

"This is the one the prophecy spoke of?" the glowing ball floated around, seeming to exam Garmadon who was not happy about it. "Hmm… I don't know…"

The dark lord turned and looked at the smoke creature circling him. "And what were you expecting?" he said testily.

"Never mind… you'll do just fine…" this wheezy voice laughed.

* * *

Cole held tight to the medallion as they cut through the dense foliage of the hanging trees and bushes, careful not to lose it. It was starting to get humid and they pulled off their hoods to breathe better before they could suffocate. "So… where do you wanna start looking for the temple?" the earth ninja looked back.

"I don't care," Kai waved his hand; he was running out of steam. They had but walking in circles for probably two hours now.

Zane snapped alert and looked around, "Enemies are nearby…" the assassin then frowned, pale eyes shifting everywhere. "I sense the camp is not far…"

The ninja in white jumped ahead of Cole and pushed through the leaves and branches until they reached the edge. The five sets of blue, gray, brown, and green eyes peered through the trees and saw it; the camp of the Stone Warriors that would soon be looking for them.

"What are they?" Lloyd looked weirded out by the monsters.

Kai looked down at the prince. "Guess those are the Stone Warriors Julien was talkin about…"

"This is Garmadon's camp though too… right?" Jay whispered.

Kai looked over at the blue ninja with a frown, "Nah I thought it was a takeout shop…" he sarcastically snapped.

Jay's sapphire eyes flicked up and then he saw it. "Cole!" he looked to his left. "Cole! Gimme the medallion!" he swiped it from the taller ninja's hands before he could say anything about it. Jay held it up in front of his right eye and smiled wide. "Right on the other side of the camp…" he laughed. "The temple is that way!"

Kai frowned. "I don't want to burst your bubble Jay… but it's on the other side of the camp… and that means we'll have to sneak through… it'll take forever and will be just as risky going around…"

The five boys looked at one another. Could anything ever be easy?

* * *

Nya and Julien were on board the Bounty; the young maiden was excitedly telling Zane's father all about the ship whilst praising him for his work on Zane and his pet falcon. Julien himself was asking her questions about The Bounty and the mech suit she had built.

Misako sat under a tree, reading over parchment and scrolls she brought along and looked up as she saw Wu walking over. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Just… fine…" she swallowed. She of course wasn't, constantly worrying if they would be caught. Not to mention she still felt guilty about aging Lloyd.

"I'm sure you are," he sat next to her. "But in all honesty… you are not comfortable being here…" he said, knowingly, reading her expression.

"You got me," she shook her head with a smile. She leaned back against the trunk. "I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I did marry you…" she laughed, admitting.

Wu took her hand. "After Lloyd wins… I'll give the crown to him… we can start over if you'd like…" he offered.

She turned her head. "Maybe that's not such a bad idea…" she looked down with a smile. "After all…" she swallowed, "Lloyd will win… and that means…"

"Yes…" Wu didn't need her to finish the sentence. She was much attached to Garmadon most of her life, he on the other hand lost connection when they were very young. He didn't want his brother to die, but it had to happen in order for Lloyd to win.

* * *

"Okay… so… move one at a time… I'll lead," Cole started first.

He crouched behind a cluster of barrels and slowly moved sideways, around each tent. Jay, then Lloyd, then Kai, and Zane went last to cover their rear.

"Jay, are you sure this is the right way?" Lloyd whispered, nervously looking around to make sure no one was coming their way. After all, it wasn't like they had any powers to actually fight and hold off the warriors of stone.

The blue ninja frowned, "Is it so hard to believe I could be that smart for once?" Lloyd quietly laughed with Cole and Kai.

"Shh," Zane he'd a finger to his lips as three warriors passed them.

The edge of the camp was feet away, they were so close. Cole rolled quickly from behind the last tent and hid behind the bushes and shrubs, making it. Jay quickly moved after him followed by Lloyd.

"Come on!" Kai whispered to Zane as he started moving next.

The first four were now hidden behind the bushes and Zane was about to move when a warrior walked by and spotted Zane who took just a little too slow.

"NINJA!" he started calling. All the other warriors snapped alert, grabbed a weapon each, and charged over to find Zane, standing up with a pair of shurakins in his hands.

"Oh no," Kai sighed at yet another setback.

Lloyd was the first to jump out to fight with the one who was his longest friend. "Lloyd, stay back in the bushes… or run… you can't face your father… not yet," the white ninja stood in front of Lloyd protectively.

The green ninja's hands produced two balls of glowing, green flames. He moved from behind Zane and hit two stone warriors. "Did you see that!?" Lloyd hopped. The way he was reacting reminded the four older ninja that Lloyd was really just a little kid still.

The other three came out and all five used their colorful Spinjitsu tornadoes to throw the advancing enemies back to try and be on their way quickly.

Garmadon and the Overlord heard the ruckus outside and ran out of the tent. "The ninja!?" Garmadon seethed. "How did even get here?!" The rumor of the ship ended up to be true after all.

"Uh oh…" Cole started running first. "Come on guys! We gotta leave!"

The Overlord didn't have a face, but he was enraged all the same, colors swirling even brighter and faster. "GET THEM!" The smoke seemed to turn a more violet red orange color now.

The Stone Warriors that were still on their feet started running after the five teenage boys. Cole kept swiping his scythe back and forth, falling back to defend the weaker ones; cutting down as much as he could so the others could at least get ahead.

The muscles in his arms started growing tired though from the swiping motions. "Almost there!" he huffed.

The jungle now ended and they all stared up; a steep mountain slope was before them. They all growled and started climbing. As a question to their earlier question; no, nothing could ever be easy for them.

"They're catching up!" Lloyd looked back nervously.

"Outta my waaaaay!" Jay cried as he pushed himself to go faster, passing everyone else. Lloyd started going faster too, not wanting to be left behind.

"Got your back Lloyd!" The samurai and assassin stayed behind. Kai was at the bottom and started kicking warrior heads as they tried to grab his ankles with their stone claws.

As some toppled down the slope; they crashed into other warriors delaying their further climb and the fire and ice ninja were able to advance up to catch up with their other team mates.

Lloyd had made it first when he passed Jay and simply stood there as the last four climbed up to the top. He had a hopeless look that was soon shared by the others.

The mountain was barren. There was no temple.

**Updaaaaate... have a long chapter :3**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	19. The Temple of Light

Cole looked at the medallion he swiped back from Jay and tried to line it up. He brought it back from his eye, growled, and chucked it at Jay, hitting him in the head. "Stupid!"

"OW!" Jay cried, holding the area. He looked away, wiping his tearing eyes.

"You idiot! I knew we shouldn't have trusted you to find the temple!" Cole accused, jabbing a finger at the smaller blue ninja who was just injured.

Zane stood between the two about to charge at one another. "Maybe we need to go up more… maybe it's not right here!" He was worried they would be captured soon when the warriors tailing them caught up.

Kai watched Zane try to reason with the two yelling blue and black ninjas and Lloyd slipped ahead while no one else was watching him.

The prince climbed over rocks and boulders, happy that growing up faster gave him more strength for climbing. He pulled himself up onto another rock ledge and looked up, gasping. "Guys!" he shouted.

The four others below looked up at the sound of Lloyd's voice, forgetting their squabbling. They heard the growling of Stone Warriors making their way up the cliff face behind them and followed the sound of Lloyd's shout for them.

At the top was the temple depicted on the old map. "Legend says that the first king of Ninjago put this temple here… as a beacon of light and hope…" Zane examined it. "Let's go before they warriors catch up with us…"

The five ran inside quickly, Cole barring the doors shut with his scythe and several small boulders. It wouldn't hold the stone monsters off for long though.

"What now?" Kai looked around. It was a big, square, empty room with four columns with a giant bell in the center, hanging from the low ceiling.

Zane's pale eyes scanned the spacious room, looking for a sign of what to do. He saw the four posts and the bell too and noticed each had its own respected color. He also saw the pillars were blue, red, black, and white and the bell was pure gold and plate on the ground below it was green with a dragon, the Imperial seal used by the first king.

"Find you color and stand next to the pillar!" Zane started to the white one. "Lloyd, stand under the bell!" he pointed to the prince, moving quickly.

The ninja dispersed, to their own color plate. "Now what?" Jay was staring at the doors which were being banged on by the warriors. "They'll break in soon!"

"I don't know!" Zane bit his lip. He should have thought the idea through before actually giving out orders.

Lloyd frowned and looked at the hollow inside of the bell he was standing under then he saw the lotus crest. "Why would just a bell be here?" The four others looked up at it too. Surely it would not just be for a decoration. "What do bells stand for?" Lloyd frowned.

"Peace… liberty…" Zane ran hand through his pale blonde hair, trying to help Lloyd think quickly as he heard the banging. They were running out of time.

Cole pointed up at it, "There's a seal that looks like the one on the throne in the castle".

"The lotus flower…" Zane nodded. "That's the crest of the current royal family… it use to be the dragon but since the first king died, King Wu took the lotus as his new seal being he was the younger son; the dragon was meant for the first born… and that would be the bloodline of Garmadon," he frowned, looking at the plate.

"And they're both Lloyd's family and bloodline…" Kai looked over at the prince who was staring up at the bell. "Lloyd! Strike the bell!" he called over to him.

The green ninja took five big steps from the gold bell to get a running start. He sprint for four steps and leapt, foot out. When his boot made contact with the gold instrument, it clanged so loud, the others had to cover their ears.

The stone warriors were cringing from the beautiful clang coming from inside the temple walls, shaking the mountain and ring out across the land of Ninjago. Garmadon and the Overlord heard the sound all the way down in the camp crystal clear.

The four boys in the corners next to their pillar glowed gold or silver. The old clothes seemed to melt away as new robes replaced them and gold hilts were in their hands.

Each one had a different colored blade erecting from the gold handles in their own elemental colors. The colorful blades shot elemental color beams that Lloyd was zapped with. With a white gold light Lloyd's ninja suit turned into green and black robes.

The barred gates finally broke down and the army of the Overlord swept in. "Who's ready for a fight!?" Jay laughed, blue and green blade in his grip. Electricity coursed through and around as it ignited and he felt a new spark in his veins.

The five stood, battle ready with new elemental powers and adrenaline surging through their bodies as the enemy charged in at them. This was a feeling they felt before, only now on a new level.

"Do you think they're okay?" Everyone had stopped what they were doing when the gold beams of light lit the darkening sky up. Nya hands were gripped tightly together over her chest, worried especially for her brother.

"They will be fine Nya… don't worry," Wu nodded. The black haired girl nodded back and kept her brown eyes fixed on the peak of the mountain where the five boys she knew as her family were fighting.

"They won't go down without a fight," Misako was staring with Nya too. "They must have their new powers by now… we heard the bell… they had to have figured it out…"

"It feels so good to be able to destroy these things!" Cole's sword ripped through a stone warrior, reducing him to a pebbly pile of rubble.

"We need to get out of here though and back into our hidden base…" Kai brought his own sword around. "We have our powers… now we just need go back into hiding and ready Lloyd for his fight!"

Zane used his Spinjitsu to knock a group off of him and Lloyd shot a stray with his green plasma energy, "Kai is right, we must get out of here now…" the assassin lowered his sword of ice.

The five pressed through the advancing army, tearing through any warrior that stood in their way. Lloyd shot another beam of green gold energy that blew up one of their cannons. They slid down the back slope and disappeared into the hot and humid night.

**New powers :D**

**Thanks for reading :3**

**~Mar**


	20. The Next Move

"You idiots!" Garmadon snapped at the second in command below Kozu, smacking his helmet, making a clang sound that made the stone warrior vibrate. "You just let them get away!?"

The group of warriors bowed on their knees, shaking and rambling in their ancient language excuses for their incompetence. Kozu translated, "They beg of your forgiveness, your son and his friends have grown strong now with new weapons and powers though."

"So the temple legend was true after all…" Garmadon hissed. "And now they're even stronger than before…"

The Overlord was floating beside his throne in the center tent, "Let them go, work should continue on our own secret weapon. It will be so powerful, that even the despicable ninja will not be able to withstand its power".

Garmadon agreed, "No doubt they will be going through severe training as we speak… honing their powers to obey their command…"

* * *

A coconut sailed through the air as a bolt of lightning zapped it; its charred remains fell into the rolling ocean waves beyond the coastal current.

"Excellent shot Jay!" Kai grinned. "But it's my turn!" He ignited his new fire sword. "Coconut cream pie; extra cripsy!" He shouted, looking in Cole's direction.

Cole picked up another coconut from the pile had collected, tossing it over in his hand before launching it into the air for probably tenth time that morning. The four boys had awoken early on their own just to forget about training and fighting evil and being normal teenagers messing around for once.

Lloyd woke up not too long after and was sitting in the shade, watching his friends and protectors shoot coconuts, courtesy of Cole's powerful throw. Every few throws he would sneak in his own elemental power and burn a coconut before the others could just to tease them. So far they didn't really catch on.

Inside Julien's small home, blankets covered the floor, as that was where everyone slept. Nya was just waking up too to help Julien to finish the repairs on the Bounty.

Misako opened her tired green eyes and looked to her left. Wu was also waking up and looked over, they were shoulder to shoulder. "Oh…" they quickly scooted away from each other. Misako turned her head away quickly, cheeks reddening.

"Good, its late morning," Nya smiled, walking in and removing her goggles. "Everyone is up sir," she smiled at Wu. "Better make our next move today, no doubt Lord Garmadon will be coming for us… since the boys were seen…"

"Of course Nya," Wu stood up, helping Misako up with him.

Outside the five boys had a fire pit going while Nya hopped on board the land locked Bounty to take out some provisions they took along. "Hey guys! Someone wanna go pick some fruit?" she poked her head over the side of the ship.

"On it Nya!" Jay ran off.

"I'll go too," Kai followed.

The weather on the Dark Island was thick and hot; a tropical jungle's climate, almost enough to make someone suffocate, but it would have been nice for a vacation if the world's balance was not such a big issue. Nya came back with a pair of pots, a bucket, and some jars.

"So… what will it be for breakfast?" Nya stretched; sand between her toes.

"Don't suppose there are any edible animals on this island?" Cole looked back at the jungle where Kai and Jay disappeared into. "I'm gonna go see if those two boneheads need my help". He decided and started off after the red and blue ninja.

"Zane and I are gonna prepare what little we already brought," she looked down at the couple of jars.

Wu picked up a metal bucket, "I suppose I'll get the water for us".

"Thank you sir," Nya brightly smiled and crouched down to help Zane.

Lloyd was sitting on a log near the fire pit and looked over at his mother walking out. She passed by Wu but to Lloyd, something was strange about them; the way they seemed to look at each other.

Misako sat down next to her son but was still glancing off in Wu's direction, still smiling. Lloyd brought his knees up a little and shifted his shoulders. "So… how did you guys meet again?" he looked at the sand that covered his feet, pulling his pant legs up and cuffed them around his knees.

"Hmm?" she looked back at her son. "Who Wu?" she smiled.

Lloyd blushed and looked away, getting a feel for what his mother was thinking, "No… I… uh… meant my father…" he started feeling his heart sink. He knew his father loved her still by what he said last time they were together; before the Devourer was destroyed.

The older woman continued smiling and brought his head over to face her. "We were the best of friends when we were your age… my father was a member of the court and spent many days with both him and Wu… and I loved your father so much… and he loved me… though he doesn't always show it… as you know…" she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "But there… was this one time where he was probably the happiest man alive…"

Lloyd frowned, "When was that?" he tilted his head, wondering, as he pulled out of the hug.

She laughed and kissed his forehead lovingly, "When you were born…" she hugged him tighter.

Lloyd hugged back too this time. He never thought about it before, having a mother, until recently. He thought, when he met her in Ouroboris, he could never love someone who abandoned him. But it was different, like another piece of his life was in place. He kind of liked it.

"You idiots; try and be more quiet!" Cole looked around as Jay and Kai were laughing and teasing each other.

"Lighten up Cole," Jay snickered and threw a coconut at taller ninja walking in front of them as payback for having the medallion being chucked at his head.

"Ow!" he turned around looking very mad. That shut the two up fast.

A group of grunting and shouts came close and the three hid behind a cluster of leafy bushes and trees, spying through the leaves.

"Oh no… they're exploring closer to the camp now…" Jay swallowed. "They'll find us soon!"

Kai looked to the other two beside him, "We gotta go back and tell the others…"

The three crept along in a crouching position until they were far enough away to stand and zipped back to their beach camp to warn everyone else about their discovery.

"There you guys are," Nya tightened her maroon hip scarf. The other three just noticed how sticky their skin was from being in the deeper jungle parts.

"We need to start mobilizing… the Stone army keeps exploring closer," Cole urgently reported in.

Misako stood up and motioned for the others to follow, "I think I have an idea… and I'll need the assistance of some ninja," she looked at the first four ninja.

Lloyd grumpily folded his arms and but followed with Nya. Inside she laid out a scroll on the rickety old table in Julien's home. "The Helmet of Darkness is what controls the stone army… Garmadon was given it when he came here apparently…" she frowned. "Now… I never understood what it meant, but there is a clock that gets turned on to count down till the final battle…"

"A clock?" The boys tilted their heads.

Nya looked over when Wu and Julien were listening in. "A clock is a machine that can tell time without need for the sun," Julien explained. "I invented it actually… Zane operates much like a clock". He put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Now it says…" Misako continued, translating the scroll writing in her head, "That once the helmet is bequeathed to the heir, the clock will begin… and when the horns of destruction sound on the sunset of first of spring, the land will go cold and darkness shall rise".

"First of spring… that's tonight," Wu stroked his beard looking worried.

Jay looked around as others were concerned about that, "Uh… hey, I am still lost on what bequeathed means-"

Cole cut him off though, because it of course not important, "So what's the plan Misako? What do you need us to do?"

She rolled the scroll up and held close to her, "We must steal the helmet… the scroll never said about what would happen if it were to be returned to the clock". She had a determined smile. "So we're going to find out together.

Kai shook his head, "Wait, you want us to sneak all the way back into his camp _and_ pluck the helmet from his head?"

Nya nodded, "Yea… my brother is right my lady, they are good… but…" she bit her lip. "Well… not that good".

Misako gave a hint of a mischievous smirk, "Oh I know that… they cannot pull off such a feat…" she agreed. "That is why I shall be the one to do that part". She rolled the scroll back up and folded her arms.

"You are going to steal the helmet from him?" Wu asked her. "What if he attacks you again… like last time you met?"

She tilted her head, still with her cheeky smile. "That is because I came as an adversary… to stop him and steal the gold weapons back… and this time… well, I'm sure Lord Garmadon would be pleased to see that his _warriors _captured a prisoner I am sure he would want to keep a very close eye on". She smirked wider looking at the four ninja.

She looked at the four boys who caught on. "When do you want to leave then?" Zane asked.

**Hopefully there will be more frequent updates because I have a Halloween story and a Halloween short I wanna post... gah why do I have so many stories? It's starting to get annoying...**

**Thank you for reading, see ya in another update :) **

**~Mar**


	21. Play Along

A stumpy stone warrior brought a bucket of black ooze with strange purple shards in it. "They struck the deepest and darkest in the mines of the dark matter to fuel the ultimate weapon," Kozu translated the garbled speech.

"Good then, I don't care how many you lose in the mine, we'll need more just like this…" he approved and the stumpy warrior scuttled out to report to the others of their master's wishes.

The Overlord seemed to never leave his side, though bothersome, he'd need an ally like that if he was to finally accomplish what he was so close to getting. "Good… they respect you…" the Overlord wheezed. "I am going out with the next search party… I hope you will be able to keep control".

"How dare you insult me like that… keep that up and you will not have a place when I rule," he angrily said the ball of purple smoke.

"Of course…" the Overlord's gaseous form floated out of the tent in an apologetic tone. "I'll leave you to it then…"

* * *

Misako gently was prodded forward as the wooden gates of the camp. "Are you sure this will work?" Kai looked at the others, keeping their voices as quiet as possible.

"Of course… now shh… play along," Misako smiled encouragingly as Cole tightened her ropes to make it more real looking. "Unhand me!" she suddenly yelled at them.

"Sorry my lady," Jay jumped when he shoved her forward.

Misako sighed. "I am starting to see why my husband underestimates you sometimes, you know," she shook her head, trying to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

The tall General Kozu came over and looked at the four ninja disguised in stone armor below him with smudged paint on their faces. He started speaking in the stone warrior language and stopped. The ninja guessed he was waiting for an answer.

"What did he say?" Kai whispered to the disguised white ninja.

Zane shrugged. "It's an ancient language… that is all I know…"

"We gotta say something…" Cole swallowed and coughed, "Uh… bada bada bing bang!"

Misako turned her head to see Kai hop, "Uh… cheep cheep… maka doh?"

Kozu blinked then looked at Zane, wondering what he would say next. Zane swallowed and gave a sheepish smile, "Uh… tick tock tick tock?"

The armored warrior then looked at Jay who didn't say anything yet. The blue started to do some strange dance and shouted, "Bequeathed, bequeathed, bequeathed!"

Misako's mouth dropped as she looked at the ninja talking actual gibberish. She looked back at an already suspicious Kozu and she straightened up. "That is right! You caught me!" she fake angrily said. "But I will not talk unless you take me to Garmadon," she snootily looked away.

The four armed general growled something at her which did scare her. The monster was well over a foot taller than her. He started shoving her along, hopefully to Garmadon. She looked back at the four ninja; part one of the plan was done and now the four just had to blend in with the others until Misako somehow tricked Garmadon into giving her his helmet… or she would have to really steal it.

The four young men tried not to think about how she was going to get it.

* * *

The dark lord lay back on the black cot in the tent when he heard the footsteps of Kozu. "What is it!? I said I wanted to be alone!" he snapped, sitting up.

"We have captured a prisoner… from your son's hidden base…" the general quietly said.

That got Garmadon's attention as Kozu pulled Misako in and his heart stopped. "Misako…" he stared at her. Had it been days ago? It might as well have been years. He coughed, "Release her…" he pointed.

Kozu cut the ropes and she stretched her arms and back out a little. "Well hello again," she smiled. He continued to stare at her quietly, not believing she was caught. "Was there something you wanted to say before I was thrown in a cell?" she tilted her head, hands together still with a smile.

Garmadon blinked, "Why… why are you here?" he swallowed he could keep his eyes from staring like a puppy.

She brushed her loosely tied back fringe to the side before answering. She swallowed before telling her lie. "I was on my way to see you…" she looked down. "And I got caught by scouts and they tied me up and turned me in…"

"Why would you want to see me? I hurt you…" his bottom pair of hands fidgeted with each other.

"I hurt you too…" she nodded to his left shoulder. He touched it and looked down. She took a couple more steps closer and he stood up.

He looked down at her, "Why are you here?" he decided to ask again. "Why would you dare to let yourself be caught… you could have escaped the scouts if you wanted to".

The corners of her mouth tugged down, "And suddenly I'm a liar…" she folded her arms loosely and looked away, turning her body from him. "I came for a second chance because I'm lonely… I only came with our son and his friends because I knew you'd be here…" she lowered her head a little more. It was a bigger lie because she led the ninja here.

He put a hand under her chin and tilted her head up. "Well… then… I guess we have that in common…" a hand slipped gently around her waist.

**Ahem... I'm taking more liberties... I know everyone was waiting for Jay's bequeathed thing... Oh crap I need to update this on DA... damn it... okay well, have a nice night. **

**Thanks for reading. **

**~Mar**


	22. Love and Lies

The ninja were sitting round, not daring to take off their disguises and were quietly muttering to one another, keeping a low profile. "How long do you think it takes to steal a helmet?" Zane leaned on his hand, ice eyes watching the busy warriors walk back and forth.

Kai folded his arms and leaned back against a barrel of water as he sat on the ground, "Hell if I know… for all we know, Misako could just be yanking our legs just so she can see Garmadon or something…" he grumbled.

"You don't know that Kai… she seems pretty straight with us…" Cole looked down at the red ninja, slightly annoyed. "I don't think she'd go through the trouble of lying or tricking us… she's helped us…"

Jay nodded, "Yea; why would she do all she's done in the past eight years just to back stab us? Ya know; hid away from everyone to protect Lloyd… I mean, she must have been studying for most of her time, she can read that garbled chicken scratch like it's basic English". Jay nodded, siding with the earth ninja.

"And not to mention how she was able to land a hit on Garmadon and moved so fast that all she received was a shallow cut in her waist… that must have taken strength building and practice… she's been working to stop darkness it seems," Zane agreed with the other two.

Kai shrugged, "Hey I ain't knocking the lady… she seems good enough but you never know… don't forget we walked in on her… doing… whatever it was Lord Garmadon…" he put his hands up, referring back to when they first met her as Lloyd's mother.

"I don't think she would get that close again after all he did to her," Cole leaned over in his seat and leaned his arms on his knees. "I mean, how can you love someone who stabbed your own back a bunch of times?"

* * *

"I'm happy you're here…" he pressed their lips together again and his hand ran through her hair. "I'm not letting go ever again…"

She laid her head back on the cot, "I never want to leave again…" she brought their mouths together and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. She opened one eye to spy the helmet from across the room on a desk. Good thing his eyes were closed so he wouldn't see her looking at the helmet.

"Now that you're here… why not simply say where our son is?" he kissed her cheek.

Misako nervously looked to her left, still couldn't see her worried eyes. "Of course…" she swallowed. "I want to stop the fight just as much as he does…" she sighed. "As much as you do…"

The four ninja were kicked from their spot and was forced to push a group of wheelbarrows to the construction site. On the way over they were about to pass Garmadon's tent. It had been a good ten minutes they gave Misako so, Jay decided to peer through the open flap of the tent and froze.

"Jay! Come on!" Kai hissed. "What is it!?" Kai looked through the flap. Cole and Zane followed through and peeked in as well.

"What the-?!" Cole's jaw dropped.

Misako's ears perked up and she looked over and subtly shook her head. "I knew we couldn't trust her!" Kai growled under his breath as they were forced to continue walking before Kozu would grow suspicious. "We trust her to steal the helmet and there she is lying around and cuddling with Lord Garmadon in his own tent…" Kai almost threw up at thinking about it.

Zane was the only one quiet about it. They may not have known, but Zane _was _the smarter one. "She's playing him". He told them. "It's a simple plan really. She's playing off of Garmadon's one weakness; her".

"What?" Jay looked behind him. "You mean the worst guy in all of Ninjago… and he will let his guard down for a lady?"

Cole sighed, "Yea, Zane has a point… now come on… we just need to keep playing until she finds us and says we're in the clear…" Cole sighed and pushed his wheelbarrow up the ramp.

"Hey what do you think that's for?" Jay's dark blue eyes looked over.

Kai rolled his brown eyes, "It's a giant cannon… what do you think? To destroy us!" Jay shrunk down and mumbled indefinable things.

At the top the four didn't know what to do next and a stumpy warrior stomped over to Cole and started banging his bamboo stick, smacking the earth ninja in the face through the gap in his mask which smudged off the black and yellow paint he smeared on his face to disguise himself.

"OW!" Cole growled. "You little…" Cole swung his leg back and kicked the warrior off the five story structure wood scaffolding and landed in a pile of sand.

All the other warriors at the bottom looked up and stared at the four disguised ninja staring over the edge. "Oh dear…" Zane looked down.

"Cover's blown…" Kai sighed. The four stood up straight and their element tornadoes further revealed who they really were when they ended up in their black and respected colored element robes.

* * *

Misako tried not to think about the look Jay and the other gave when they saw her in here with her husband. It was rather funny but it reminded her that what she was about to do was going to make her sick to her stomach.

Her head was limply resting on his chest, feeling his four arms protectively around her. It'd be hard to wrench from his grasp and she'd need a miracle for the right timing.

"Sir!" Then her moment came. "The ninja have sneaked into our camp! They are by the ultimate weapon!"

"What?" he sat up. Misako slid next to him.

Her husband was too busy snapping off at Kozu to notice she quietly scooted away more and more. She kept looking back at her angry dark lord nervously and Kozu was too busy apologizing to look at her. She was within arm's length and then she did it.

Her shaky hands snatched it and she ran for it. Garmadon looked behind him to see the light brown end of skirt vanish as she fled the tent. He then looked back at where his helmet was place. "Damn you; you—"

* * *

"You got the helmet!" Cole huffed as they ran past her.

She quickly ran in step as they were passing her, one hand lifting her skirt so she wouldn't trip over it and an arm wrapped around the dark metal of the cursed helmet. "Yes… and you got caught!" she looked behind as they ran together, a hoard of warriors on their tails, panting already.

Their lungs burned as sticky air pumped in and out of their bodies which were drenched under their clothing. Misako thanked god everyday that she spent her eight years alone doing more than just reading or else she would have collapsed a long ways back.

"I really must thank you though," she smiled and looked at the young men on both her sides. "If it wasn't for you getting caught, Garmadon wouldn't have let go of me and got distracted!"

"Where is the rendezvous point?" Kai puffed, running out of steam himself.

Misako looked to her right, "The cliff… that is where the clock will be..." she looked up at the sky, "And it's getting darker… we must hurry!"

"Well looks like you have done a wonderful job of letting your desires cloud your judgment," The Overlord disapprovingly said.

Garmadon had had enough of the little floating ball of purple smoke, "Will you shut up!?" he growled. Looking back to the warriors that stayed behind he started ordering them off, "I want you all to find those blasted ninja and my wife… and then you will find my brother… my son… and the red ninja's sister!" He was on a rage rant. "Chain them all up… except Misako… I want to punish her myself…"

**Well it is about time I updated! Been so busy with the Halloween fic I lost track of my other stuff! Well thanks for reading; it's greatly appreciate :)**

**~Mar**


	23. Horns of Destruction

Wu, Lloyd, and Nya caught up at the base of the mountain; Nya to Jay and Kai's open arms and Misako to Wu and Lloyd. She gave her son a couple of kisses on his face.

"You have it…" Nya looked over from her two boys excitedly at the metal helmet in Misako's arms.

The older woman nodded, "Yes, now we must hurry!" the eight started climbing the rest of the way. "Where's Julien?" she looked back.

"Stayed at camp," Lloyd huffed, climbing over bigger rocks. "Almost finished with the Bounty so we can leave this cursed place…" They all heard the battle cries of stone army at their heels which made them climb all the more faster to escape capture by them. They knew Garmadon was probably very angry right now, and that was an understatement.

When they made it to the top was a strange gear mechanism made of bronze. Nya's brown eyes widened, just like every other time she ever saw a mechanical creation that interested her. "What a machine…" she whispered.

"You can take it apart when this is all over if you would like," Misako smiled and looked down at the helmet. "Now… to find where this will go…" she started searching.

"MISAKO!" She jumped and turned around. It was Garmadon and he was far from happy.

"Hurry!" Kai swiped the helmet away and started looking for the perch with the others.

Wu drew his staff and Misako took out her sword. "Ready to buy them some time?" Wu side glanced and tossed her, her sword that she left behind so it wouldn't be taken by Kozu and she unsheathed it with a nod.

Stone warriors made it to the top and ready to steal back the helmet Misako took from their camp. "One… two… three…" Wu counted.

"NINJA-GO!"

The two formed their own Spinjitsu tornadoes of gold and silver, sending the warriors flying off the cliff face, back to Garmadon and the Overlord where they belonged. Behind them the ninja were having their own problems finding the right place to set the helmet down to hopefully end this.

"Maybe over here!" Zane caught the helmet. Wrong place again. The seconds kept ticking by.

Next to the top was Garmadon and he looked like he was ready to kill every last one of them. "You will never get away from me again Misako," he stood, towering above, ready to fight her. He gripped the collar of her shirt, "You will be my slave, I offered you the chance to become a queen and you betrayed me just like Lloyd and everyone else… you will be punished". Wu stepped in front though, flat of his sword between, separating them.

"You will never hurt her or Lloyd again," he grimly said. "Not under my watch you coward".

Misako backed up and out of the corner of her eye, she found it. "I found the perch!" she shouted. Ten seconds were left as the clock ticked down to the last notches on the gear. Garmadon went to grab her when Wu blocked the path, allowing Misako to run to the ninja.

Cole tossed it to her, but general Kozu shoved her out of the way and caught it himself. Misako dropped her sword and was pushing herself up by the heel of her hands and looked back, wiping the dirt scrape off.

She tugged her skirt back a little and swept her leg around, knocking Kozu backwards in a clean high kick. She quickly grabbed her glasses that fell off and scooped the helmet up, placing it on the perch, the clock seeming to stop.

Everyone stopped to stare at the clock which ceased to tick down more, it had rested on the last notch, frozen. Garmadon and Wu's swords, still against the other looked back. "No…" Garmadon growled.

"Yes!" Wu shoved his brother off.

"We did it?" Nya whispered.

Following the silence, was a barely audible tick, followed by an earth shattering sound that made the ninja plug their ears. "We were too late," Misako covered her mouth and looked at Lloyd who had a look of defeat on his face, she reached a hand out and held his hand. The noise made the mountain and land around it rumble.

Garmadon laughed at his victory while everyone else started backing up, heels hanging off the edge of cliff with nowhere else to go. "We'll fight until the end," Everyone held up their swords, ready to put up their biggest fight ever.

A cracking noise sounded under their feet; the cliff was breaking off. Nya, at the front of the group, tripped forward during the shake; arm caught by Garmadon. She looked up, scared. "KAI!" She screamed reaching back.

"SIS!" The red ninja reached out back to her. The ground finally gave way and they fell to the salty ocean water below.

They were too late.

Lloyd would have no choice but to fight his father.

Nya was in Garmadon's custody.

The Ultimate Weapon was complete.

Their world fell apart.

**Seemed a little too short for my taste, but worthy of its own chapter nonetheless. Thanks for reading. Psycho bad Nya shall follow promptly. Have a wonderful day and thank you for reading the story that gave you feels in a different light and time setting.**

**~Mar**


	24. The Ones You Love

They choked on salty water as they swam to the inlet cove at the bottom. "He took my sister again," Kai coughed, spitting course water from his mouth with bloodshot eyes from the sea. He started shaking uncontrollably as he pounded his fists in the wet sand.

"We'll get her back!" Cole shook his thick, dark hair out, standing up. "That's just the way the cookie crumble-"

"THEY TOOK NYA AND YOUR MAKING JOKES?!" Jay angrily tackled the black ninja to the sandy shore, waves rolling up around them as Jay tried to punch Cole who kept blocking with his stronger arms. For once it wasn't Kai who was lashing out in a fight.

"ENOUGH!" Wu snapped and the two boys stopped. "We have to get back to the cove and prepare for our last fight… and Lloyd will win…" he looked at Kai and Zane, helping Lloyd up. "We cannot worry ourselves about Nya… if we try and get her back now, we will lose…" he looked empathetically at Kai who tried to make it like he wasn't crying.

Jay sniveled, "But she might be scared!"

* * *

"Let go of me!" Nya snarled, trying to wrench her arm from Garmadon's tight grasp. The dark lord was surprised how much of a fight she was able to put up against him.

He laughed, "You've gotten a lot stronger since the last time I caught you… I'm impressed". He kept dragging her along like she was a dog who wanted to stay away.

Nya held her shoulder which was being strained, "Yea well… us women need to be stronger for the next time some guy backstabs us… again…" she set her teeth together. She was looking to fire a round or two at the dark lord.

"You're fighting a losing cause my dear…" he shook his head as he let go of her and two warriors took over holding her back. "I still laugh at what you said… about being able to change back when we were working together…"

"You still can," she looked up. "But you won't of course". She looked back at disgust. "All guys like you are like that… you think you're so strong… so powerful… you'll lose and I'll be there high above you when it happens… I'm on the winning side!"

Garmadon shook his head, "My how you see the world… so black and white… I only imagine my brother taught you that".

"He did! We are good and you are bad…" she bluntly said. "There is no in between".

"You are an idiot if you believe that load of rubbish," he held something up. "My own wife tried to tell me that… but with light there will be darkness… there's evil buried even in you".

Nya's brown eyes looked at the charm on his belt. "Yea I know the whole Yin and Yang thing your worship," she mocked him. "But you forget there are still the two sides of the scale and guess what? You're on the dark side". She smirked a little, a little too confidently.

The dark lord shook his head, "Well I guess there will be no convincing you… like this anyways". He nonchalantly said.

The blood from Nya's face started to drain, "What do you mean by that?" she croaked nervously, suddenly realizing she was in his arena now.

"Oh I have some experiments planned for you…" he grimly laughed. A stone warrior brought the bucket of dark matter. "Why not let her feel what being evil is really like when you never had a choice in the matter?" He evilly grinned.

Nya tried to back away from the warrior. She didn't know what this 'dark matter' was but she didn't like the sound of it. The black and purple spotted goop was brought to her face and she felt the warmth slip from her body.

* * *

Back at the base camp Wu walked out of Julien's small home. "… Where is Misako?" he frowned seeing the other ninja milling around camp, preparing to move out for their final battle. Lloyd's mother was obviously missing from the place.

"The… forest I think… she said she needed to be alone," Julien walked past the king who sighed. He looked at the small path she must have cut through the trees and decided to go look for her himself. By the look everyone had on their faces, they knew she had to be alone.

Misako squeezed the hilt of her sword until her knuckles were white and her palms ached from the squeezing motion. She brought it around at the thick bark of a tree, leaving deep, white stripes in the bark.

_"I'll love you forever and always…" _

She squeezed her eyes shut and swung again as the thoughts were resurfacing in her memories.

_"You're everything to me…"_

She bit down and felt the metal hit the tree again, the shock going through her body. Every kiss, every touch, she wanted to forget everything between them after the day she had had.

_"I'm going to protect you from now on…"_

She felt her eyes leak and vision became blurry as she angrily struck the tree with the blade that was gifted to her as a token of friendship and later love by the very man who betrayed her over and over again.

_"That's silly; I'd never hurt you… I'd sooner die than attack you…"_

"SHUT UP!" she roared and heard wood cracking. She saw she almost cut the entire tree down and wiped her face, shaking. "You damn liar!" She leaned back against it and dropped the katana in the dirt, shaking more when she remembered the words he said to her before they fell off the cliff.

She heard rustling and jumped at the noise. She scrambled to grab her sword again and held it out. "It's just me…" she dropped it again and sat on the ground. "… I'd ask if you are okay, but it is a pointless question…"

He sat next to her as she moved her side bangs off her sweaty face. "I can't stop thinking about all the lies he told me…"

"What do you mean?"

She took her glasses off, "He promised me his everything…" she shook. "I believed him too… I believed every damn thing that piece of scum told me…"

"You… you know you don't mean those things… you aren't any better than him if you talk like that… you're the one with hope and always have been… no one else has any that he can change…" Wu looked down at the ground and took her hand. He didn't know how she'd react to the gesture but she squeezed it back.

He loved her; he loved her more than anyone ever would have known or suspected, but he respected her choice, though it left him alone, forced to care for her child while she ran away from him a second time. If she would choose him this time, he wouldn't know how to feel though because of everything that'd happen. She would choose out of her own confusion and not because that was what she wanted.

"I'm sorry he hurt you…" he looked down, "And I know you still love him… even if you say you hate him now…" he knew the feeling still was in her. She was the one with the hope, the one that always kept the trio going when they were young.

Misako didn't feel like hoping anymore, it took too much effort and she could feel anger bubbling again, but stopped herself. She realized what Garmadon was talking about, how he felt betrayed when she went in to mislead and steal his helmet when he thought she'd love him again.

She looked at their hands together. "I don't know why I ever left…" she shook her head. "He's done too many things that could have been avoided to me and Lloyd and I should have just… tried to forget him… and instead I spent eight years fantasizing what it could have been… like I was a child again…"

"…you needed to be alone… standing in all the places where you two stood together would have been worse…" he squeezed her hand. "You also never would have had the drive to research all you helped with…"

She slowly nodded, "Okay you're right about that one…" she looked back at the katana resting against the tree. "We need to end this Wu…" she wiped her eye, "We need to end him… maybe it's time I'd… let go…"

**Emotionssssss y u so hard 2 rite!? Ugh anyways, tiring weekend... but it was really fun! Robyn and I had a blast! I wrote a journal on DA about it :3  
**

**Thanks for reading though! I now have some time to update stuff XD**

**~Mar**


	25. Move Out

"Ready to move out everyone?" Wu was ready now to leave and end this once and for all as he and Misako came back. Misako went inside to change her filthy and damp corset and skirt that she wore into the camp and fell into the ocean with.

It had been almost two hours and the ninja's tunics dried and everything with the Bounty finished for their getaway. It was time to end what had been started too many years ago.

The five ninja lined up and bowed, "We're ready sir". Cole closed his eyes. "We are ready to serve our land as you intended us".

Misako came back out. She had ditched her skirts and corsets like what she wore upon meeting them, she looked colder and stiff and Lloyd identified that she had been crying earlier. "Alright then… let's go kill my husband," she coldly said, sheathing a knife in a hidden hold in her boots.

The five stood up straight again, Lloyd feeling sicker than ever. He didn't want to kill anyone and deep down, neither did his mother. "Mom…" he whispered when the others passed to start out. "Do you really want dad… dead?" his green eyes met hers.

She was silent for a few seconds, "I don't want to because killing is wrong when it wasn't his fault… but he won't stop now… so maybe… we should be the ones to stop it… put him out of his misery…" her emerald eyes started watering and she folded her arms around him into a tight hug in which he returned. "I love that man…or… at least my memories of him… believe me… but you need to let go sometimes…" she touched foreheads with her son. "You can do it my son… I believe in you".

"I don't wanna let go," he sniffed. "I don't wanna kill him," he hugged her tighter. "I want a normal life… I want you to love each other like how parents should… I don't wanna be a prince… or a hero… I wanna be… anything but this…"

She rested her cheek against the top of his head. "I know… I thought I could save him…" she closed her eyes, stroking his light blonde hair. "But no one can save anybody whose heart is poisoned… no one can play god…" she let go. "Now we can't delay… we must hurry if we are to catch him… and save our kingdom…" she kissed his forehead and started off. "Remember… we're doing this for him…"

She caught up with Wu who stayed behind to wait for her and Lloyd. "He's coming right?" he looked back as his nephew dragged his feet.

Misako nodded; "Yes…" she wiped a tear from her eye.

"I'm sorry," Wu took her hand like before and she leaned against him as they walked. "I wanted nothing but you to be happy…" he told her.

She didn't say anything and responded with hug that threw Wu off guard. "I tried to be strong for Lloyd but I can't… you saw what I was going through in the forest," she breathed. "What if he's right? What if he and I freeze when the moment comes?"

"The prophecy says that the green ninja shall win… and that will be what will happen… Lloyd will do it whether he wants to or not, he has too much on him to deny what he must do no matter how much he cries how he can't".

Lloyd's footsteps came closer and they let go of each other. The green ninja ran past them to catch up with his friends. "We should go too…" she swallowed.

"You guys go on! If you need help send the falcon!" Julien waved from the ship. The falcon was circling overhead and followed them.

Wu and Misako started off, trailing behind the faster boys. "If we're still alive when this is over…" Wu side glanced and so did she, "Would you reconsider… maybe…" he swallowed. "Marrying me?"

She slowed down a little more. "What?" she whispered, she heard him though. "Wu… I…" her face turned red. "I don't if I could ever love anyone the same way…" she looked down hands grabbing her shoulders. "I know… when we were younger and Garmadon was gone… things… happened and…"

"You don't need to make any decision now-"

"HEY ARE YOU COMING!?" Kai's agitated yell brought them back to reality and they started running after them again.

* * *

"The ninja are approaching!" Kozu announced; running back to his leader.

The Overlord was floating behind Garmadon who sat back in his seat and looked to his newest pet beside him. "Go and end them now…"

_"Yes master" _a gravelly voice answered him.

**Nice and short chapter... **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Mar**


	26. Hearts that Turn Black

The four ninja sliced their elemental blades through the thick jungle leaves like machetes to clear the path for the others; nothing but determination pushing them to keep going, even if it meant to their possible deaths. They had to try and make it back alive for their families and that was what gave them fire to go.

"It's hard to believe after all we've been through in three months," Cole huffed as he swung his blade up.

"And who knew this is who we really are…" Kai looked at his sword. It felt like yesterday his life was dull and meaningless.

As the small team sprinted along together a rustling stopped them. "What was that?" Lloyd backed up against the other, older ninja.

"A wild animal?" Jay swallowed, looking around as well.

The rustling got closer, followed by growling noises; everyone held their katanas at ready. It got very quiet a few seconds later and everyone lowered their weapons for a brief moment. "A wild animal probably," Cole breathed, relieved. "Nothing to worry about-"

From behind, in a quick, dark flash, a figure tackled him from behind, knocking him face first into the dirt and crouching on top of his back, growling indefinable things. Kai knew just who this attack was, and it gave him a sour taste in his stomach when he called her name.

"Nya!" Kai held a hand out, he wanted to grab and snap her out of this attack.

Wu held the fire ninja back and shook his head. "That is no longer Nya-"

"What did they do to her?!" Jay's eyes started welling up as he and Kai looked at the girl they both cared for. "What did they do to my Nya!?"

Zane frowned looking at her, saddened as well. "What has been done… is she must be Garmadon's newest servant… that dark matter they were mining for… it must do this to people!" Then they understood why there was a cannon as they secret weapon. They had to keep going but…

The girl full of color and love, who stood upright and never failed to show compassion and strength, even to her enemy, was now a creature of pure darkness.

Her tan skin was pale gray and her beautiful, milky, brown eyes were a solid, glowing purple orbs and her red clothing and armor was replaced with black and grays. Her teeth were fangs and her bit back nails were gangling claws. Wu was right, this was not Nya; this was a monster with her facial features and body.

Zane shoved Lloyd out of the way and tried to block Nya's quick hits. "You three must go… we will handle her!" The white ninja looked back at Misako, Wu, and Lloyd, unsure to just leave them behind, "I am to protect the royal family and that is you three! Now you must leave!"

The three still hesitated at first but the four surrounded Nya for them to escape and they took off for the beach as fast as they could, not bothering to cut their way through the foliage. The jungle trails led out into the west side beach, right where you had a perfect view of the Ninjago coast, what better place to fire off a super weapon?

"Father!" Lloyd couldn't help but shout the strangled cry.

Lord Garmadon turned around to see Lloyd skidding to a halt with Wu and Misako behind him. The dark lord frowned, half expecting this. "So it's come to this…" he folded both sets of arms. "Destiny not only has gave me this moment of victory… but has sent my son, my brother, and my wife to stop me at the same time… well you will not!" He pointed at them.

"Please do not do this!" Misako pleaded. "I hurt you too and I'm sorry for that, but this is wrong!" she stomped her foot, frustrated at him. "Just listen! We love you!"

"You have made your choice when you played me for a fool!" he narrowed his eyes at her, anyone who stood against him was nothing more than unimportant and an enemy, even his own wife. Her heart ached with guilt at the scowl he gave them. "The venom of the Great Devourer has corrupted every vein… every bone… I AM LORD GARMADON!" he shouted at them. "DESTINY TOOK MY FAMILY FROM ME!" he looked back at Kozu and the others. "Start loading the weapon…"

"You can't do this!" Misako shook, not know what to do, it was happening, she couldn't move to stop him. "You can't…"

Then Wu stepped forward, "If you do this then the balance will be destroyed for good! Stop and we can settle this! You and me… that is what began this!"

"It's too late for any of that!" he turned his back to his younger brother.

Lloyd had heard enough of his family fighting. He thought it would be wonderful to have a family; but not like this. This was a volcano boiling till it would erupt and destroy everything around them. This was chaos, but this was the price his parents had to pay when they chose each other.

The green ninja, the prince, a young boy in the body of a teenager, charged forward without a single thought in his head, just numb feeling. He loved his dad. He barely knew him but he loved him. His mother was right; love is stopping one from doing something stupid.

This qualified.

Garmadon blocked Lloyd's pathetic punch that was blinded by tears. "You ruined us!" Lloyd clenched his teeth, heavily breathing. "Mom was right! It wasn't her! It was always you!" Whatever warriors were not loading the canon started engaging Misako and Wu in battle while Lloyd handled his father. "HOW?! How can you ever be my father!?" Lloyd's hands ignited in green flames, "You said you loved me! You loved all of us! Now you want us out of the way!"

Garmadon stepped back as Lloyd slowly stopped moving, doing nothing but trembling now, "You were selfish… you wanted Ninjago all for yourself… you were sent to the Underworld to pay for your crimes and you learned nothing… you still want to kill us… your own family…" Lloyd went to move forward, "You were right… I'm nothing like you!"

His father knew he'd regret it but his punched his son his stomach to get him to stop attacking him. Lloyd skidded back and fell to one knee in the sand, gasping for the air that was knocked out of him, tears running down his face. "Restrain him," he quickly said and a pair of warriors did as the dark lord commanded.

Lloyd sobbed and Garmadon looked back, "You lied when you said you loved me and mom! All you love is power!" he screamed at his father.

_"I do love you Lloyd… I even wanted nothing but you and your mother to rule by my side… but you and her betrayed me as Wu did…" _He kept his mouth shut, not able to say the words aloud.

Kozu fired off the canon as soon as they finished loading the first shell of dark matter. It fired into Ninjago and the land itself was turning gray, just like the new, possessed Nya.

Nya Blackman, the good girl blacksmith and one who sought for justice amongst her fellow man, was now stronger than all four ninja combined and trying to kill them. She was faster than what their eyes could process where she could strike next.

"She's way too fast!" Zane was barely following her as she cartwheeled into her next move. The white ninja dodged in time but Cole never saw her coming and her foot made contact with his jaw.

"Ow! Why does she always go for me?!" the earth ninja rubbed the certain bruised area, it would no doubt leave a nasty mark. "Nya! We were friends as kids! Remember?"

Jay started towards her, "Nya come on! It's me! Jay!" he tried to make her hear. "I know you're in there Nya!" She threw a pair of daggers which Jay barely dodged in time. "HEY!"

"She's not Nya any more…" Kai fought back tears. He couldn't take this.

He still had memories of learning the art of the blacksmith together with their father teaching, baking with their mother, and teasing and hugging one another. How Nya use to braid Daisie's hair every morning for three years when she was depressed and lost her parents, or how she would nurse Kai's wounds when hot metal struck his hands as he worked or when he received the terrible scar on his face.

Everyone looked at Kai's face; it read so many emotions that were battling inside of him as Nya stood laughing at him. Nya was their family yes, but she was Kai's real family, one out of two of the only people left in his life that were really his family.

Cole was the only other one that knew Nya from years back too. How kind she always was to him and how she always tried to help him even though he and Kai hardly ever got along. He too was losing the will to fight the young girl.

Jay saw the young maiden he fell in love with not that long ago. With a brilliant mind and cunning and quick actions that made her fierce and lovable at the same time. She had a heart of gold that withered at the hands of their greatest enemy and it made him sick to his stomach about fighting her, it made him hate Garmadon all the more.

Zane admired Nya's resilience and her wanting to do the right thing. She was the girl that no one could hate when you saw her true colors. She had something they all had and she was the base of their team, always fixing what was broken, cooking and shopping for them, nursing their wounds, and even the deeper emotional scars.

She was more than just a blacksmith, a handyman, nurse, or even the cunning vigilante; Nya was closer than family.

"We can't hurt her…" They all breathed. Garmadon struck them where they lived and they really believed he won when she took her next charge.

They had heard the booming cannon, the Overlord and Garmadon were winning, would that mean that Wu, Misako, and Lloyd were gone as well too?

**My laptop is crawling towards life as it's hinges are broken... it is currently being propped up by a stack of boxes! Hopefully we'll get someone to fix it when we order the parts...**

**Gah enough of this... FEEEEEEEEELS... I got choked up writing this... I like to step into the character's shoes... primarily villains because... I like them most... sometimes anyways, depends who we talking about... but yea... I did my best to view everyone's own thoughts and how they'd feel...**

**I also just love Nya and the relationship she has towards each ninja... **

**Thank you for reading!**

**~Mar**


	27. Double Cross

Ninjago's beautiful land was turning gray with dark matter. The Overlord was laughing above the canon as everything was falling more and more into place. Garmadon watched the warriors that fell to his brother and wife's knees.

"On your left!" Misako gasped before grabbing a knife from one of her hidden sheathes under her top's bottom hem. The warriors may have been made of stone but their swords were doing an amazing amount of damage.

When her back was turned another tried to strike her and Wu brought his staff around, hitting the other creature in the face, knocking him to the sand around them.

Lloyd looked up at Ninjago, his home, beyond the sea as he was being restrained by his father's warriors. "We're losing…" he whispered, voice cracking and stiff from drying tears. He hated himself for not being able to do anything.

Nya continued to pound the four boys to a pulp because they wouldn't dare touch or strike her, fear of hurting her. Kai only was able to trip her by accident, kicking up a cloud of dirt and dust. "Ah! My eyes!" she hissed, temporarily blinded.

Zane observed his surroundings and smiled. "We can stop her without hurting her…" he looked to a low hanging palm tree. "Guide her over here and I'll handle the rest". Zane sprinted off to the tree, sword gripped in his gloved hand.

Jay, Cole, and Kai started shooting element beams from their swords, barely grazing Nya but guiding her to where Zane needed her to be. Cole kicked up more sand and dirt and she took a few more steps back while Zane dropped down, pulling the leaves of the palm tree with him and used his frosty, white blade to stiffen the leaves in an ice cell that encased her.

Nya roared and banged on the clear, thick ice angrily but the boys could barely hear her shout at them. Kai and the others stood around with sad faces. Kai put a hand on the cold ice. "Sorry sis… but this just became a boys only team…" he swallowed before they started running off again, hoping she could be saved if they stopped Garmadon.

* * *

"You fought well but you're just outnumbered…" Garmadon grinned as if he had won already. Misako pulled her arms against his grasp. "I'm very impressed with you though my love…" he caressed her face and neck.

"Save your compliments," she growled, jerking her head away. "I learned what I needed to… to survive a battle like this…" she swallowed. "You are not the man I loved and married!" she shook her head and leaned forward.

"You need to accept reality because I am never letting you out of my sight ever again," he jerked her closer to him so she wouldn't try and run away again.

"Let them go Garmadon!" Cole's voice echoed out. The four young men stood battle ready for round two of their fight.

"How did you defeat Nya!?" Garmadon growled.

The four swords ignited, "We just stalled her is all…" Zane pulled his mask over his face first. "Now this is the part where we stop you and you let your guard down and your family takes advantage of a distraction". Under the mask the corner of his mouth pulled up in a half smirk that the dark lord could not see.

"What are you talking- OW!" Garmadon pulled back when his wife kicked him in the shin with the hard heel of her boot and grabbed her sword from one of his lower hands.

Lloyd's green power blasted the two guards that were holding him down and Wu swung his staff around and his captor released them.

All seven stood with a weapon in hand. "Now… what do you plan to do oh mighty dark lord?" Kai snarkily added.

Garmadon could feel his grimace turn into a grin because he knew he was winning and there would be no chance that the ninja who pestered him for months could stop him now. "The balance is already broken! I have turned half of the land into darkness! Just like this one! And Ninjago will be all mine! In my image!"

"He's crazy," Jay looked genuinely worried, glancing back at the others. "He's really crazy…"

The Overlord started laughing though quite obnoxiously and the dark lord turned around. "What are you laughing at!?" he snapped, not understanding what was so funny about him taking over the world.

The gaseous orb of purple floated around the four armed man, "You really thought you would be the one to rule? My… destiny chose the most gullible man alive to aid me…" he wheezily laughed on, "How fortunate for me!"

"What are you talking about!?" Garmadon demanded, not even paying attention to the ninja now.

The Overlord ceased his laughing abruptly, "You are nothing more than my puppet you fool! I'm betraying you in case you are too stupid to not understand". He sarcastically added.

The purple smoke ball possessed Garmadon while everyone sat and stared; not believing what actually was happening. "The Dark Lord was never Garmadon…" Misako started shaking. "He was never purely evil at heart…" she stared, wide eyed, raising her hands to cover her mouth. "I'm so sorry Garmadon…" Wu wrapped an arm around tightly, pulling her closer.

Kai and Zane had a hand on each of Lloyd trembling shoulders also as the man that as his father was long gone and further changed into a small, dragon like form. "Let Lloyd go…" Wu whispered. "This is the final battle".

The white and red ninja released him and the Overlord and the green ninja charged towards each other while the rest chose to fight off and destroy the canon that would further put their home in more darkness.

Lloyd roared as his hands glowed green, now angry. The Overlord looked back and lifted one hand, a pink beam shooting out. The green ninja's hands blocked the shot and dug his boots in the sand to keep him from falling back. He bit down and his hands shot a green plasma beam that pressed the Overlord's back a little ways but not as powerful. It backfired and Lloyd landed flat on his back. He weakly sat up and the Overlord was feet away.

"It's over green ninja," he hissed, raising his clawed hands.

The ninja looked back at Lloyd on the ground. "You can do it Lloyd!" Kai shouted. A familiar cackle sounded and Kai felt a fist connect to his jaw line. "Oh no; not you again…" He rubbed the sore spot when he landed on the ground.

Nya was standing on top of the canon in a crouching position, head tilted with her creepy, sharp-toothed grin. "Alright sis… Round two…" he jumped up to fight her.

Lloyd shakily stood to his feet, trying to believe what the others were saying and that he really could do this. "It's not over," he swallowed. "I can't fight you on my own… but my father would never hurt me… no matter what prophecy told him it was true". He threw his hood off. "And even though you possessed him, he's still there!"

"Lloyd!" Garmadon tried to shake the Overlord.

"You be quiet!" The Overlord hissed angrily. "You are under my control now!" The Overlord attacked Lloyd again.

Lloyd blocked again with more determination, certain that there was still a chance they could stop him together. "Get out of me you piece of scum!" Garmadon growled back at the Overlord. "You won't take Lloyd from me!"

"You will be silent!" the Overlord. He glared at Lloyd with pink eyes, nothing more was happening now and the green eyed ninja held his breath. "You're father's dead!"

Lloyd's green beam was redirected back at him, directly hitting him in the chest and knocked him out. "LLOYD!" Misako screamed and bolted to him, right out of Wu's arms.

Nya sent all four ninja flat on their backs next to Lloyd. Zane weakly sat up and flipped a switch in his left forearm. The falcon circled and left for the other end of the island to send for his father and their ship to come and help them.

On the shore of the beach a portal opened up. The four ninja, Wu, and Misako stared as the army left through it. Nya was the last to jump on the bandwagon and waved. "Bye bye! FOREVER!" she cackled and they were gone before the seven had a chance to even chase them.

Lloyd was still knocked out cold, head in his mother's lap. "He's alive…" Wu looked him over, pressing a hand to the back of his nephew's neck. "The Overlord didn't kill him…"

Everyone was at least relieved by that.

Wu looked up as they heard the whirring of the Bounty over head. It was still smoking though when it landed with a loud thud. Maybe Julien could help in some way now.

**Oh my gooooosh I put this one off for too long... sorry... I really need to get this one out of the way and take a good long break before I go off and do a Rebooted one... I'm possibly(the chances are very slim) going to make two different versions of rebooted, one where it follows the show so I can make it follow the next season coming up, and one where it segways into my coming story with my characters if I end up getting around to that idea... **

**So yea but I do not plan on posting the one that follows the show until... January because that will be a short story since there are only 8 episodes total and I can do that over next year while I wait for a possible slow season 4... gah... oh well right?**

**Thank you for reading! :D Halloween in less than a week! AH! I gotta update that one too! *runs off to revise chapters to post today***

**~Mar**


	28. Great Island Escape

Julien tightened the bandages around the black, bruised area as Lloyd winced. His hands gripped the edges of the cot in his room aboard the Bounty the entire time. "All done". The old man stood up, cutting the excess length of cloth.

Misako ran in and hugged him after they were done, "Are you okay," she wiped his side bangs from his forehead and kissed it a few times over his face, relieved he wasn't dead.

"I'll be fine…" Lloyd fought back the tears that were in his eyes. "But I lost…" he buried his face in her shoulder, wrapping one arm around her. "I'm sorry mom… I failed…"

"No…" she whispered. "You are just alive to fight another day… this battle is not over yet…" she quietly said, reassuring the teenager with the mind of a child.

Jay and Zane sadly walked in, "We're kind of stuck… unless a miracle happens because the Bounty is still not all repaired yet," Jay swallowed. "If Nya was here… maybe we could…" he started shaking, "We could have it all fixed up in no time… because… because we made it together…" he wiped one eye, trying not cry in front of the others.

Zane patted Jay on the back. "Maybe Nya can come back… you don't that Jay".

The blue ninja sniffed and wiped his eyes again. "Well… all I know is that our home is being destroyed by the Overlord… and my parents are in trouble too now".

"All of our families are Jay," Cole looked down sadly at his feet. "I have a lot of family back home who must be scared… my brother was always terrified of the stories of the Overlord and Lord Garmadon… and I tried to freak him out by telling them and now it's all really happening… so how do you think I feel!?" he snapped.

Zane stood between the two rivals.

Kai leaned against the hallway wall with his arms folded, "Yea… and let's not forget my cousin," Kai lowered his head. "What if Nya can't come back? What if Daisie and I lose her too? Like our parents?" he ran a hand through his messy brown hair and shook his head.

"Then you better think of a way to fix this ship," Wu looked around. "There must be something you can do Jay". He walked over to the blue ninja. "You were chosen because you are quick thinking and witty, like lightning".

Zane nodded, "Yes, I'm certain Nya would not want you to give up on her and Ninjago…" he added in, turning back to the depressed ninja.

Jay nodded and looked up, knowing his friend in white was right. "Dr. Julien?" he looked to Zane's father. "I'll need some help and… I'd like you to help me… if that's okay…"

"Of course Jay," The old man smiled and quickly started to walk up to the deck with the blue ninja when a chorus of roars echoed.

Everyone ran up top and four dragons of blue, red, black, and white circled before landing. "The dragons!" Jay smiled, spirits lifting a little. He hugged Wisp's nose and petted the top of his head. "Boy you are a sight for sore eyes!"

The blue dragon looked around and Jay knew who he was looking for. "Sorry buddy…" he sniffed. "Nya's not here…" she hugged the dragon again. Wisp seemed very sympathetic to him and closed his eyes, licking his master and friend's face for comfort.

Lloyd looked at the four dragons and smiled a little, "Hey… now that they're adult dragons… how much weight do you think they could carry?"

The other four looked at each other with a bit of a smile. They could just fly off on their dragons now, but the Bounty was so special to them. Wu looked around and nodded. "Hook the saddles up to the head, tail, and sides of the ship… and we'll set sail for Ninjago mainland".

* * *

"I know they'll come back any minute now!" Daisie looked up hopefully at the darkening sky. Her hands tightly gripped her shoulder bag. "They have to… they always do!" she raised herself to stand on the balls of her feet.

"They'll be here… just watch!" Cameron nodded and stood next to Daisie, "My big brother's tough as nails and so is Kai! And Jay!" he nodded, looking back at his sisters.

Daisie nodded too. When Ninjago started turning to darkness, many people in the little valley were infected by the strange dark matter canon, all except for very few of them. Daisie, Ed, Edna, Louis, and Cole's siblings were some of the only people who made it out and fled to the Imperial City. Daisie made sure to drag along Kai and Nya's friends as well, they got everyone out that they could.

Now, they were all hiding away in Darreth's dojo with him and some of his young students; quietly hoping for their heroes to return to them and destroy whatever monster was harming the land like this.

They heard the sound of the portal and quickly ran outside, thinking it was the ninja. Nya stepped out first and Daisie's heart stopped. "Nya!?" she clapped her hands over her mouth.

The girl Daisie once cared for looked at her with a snarled look with her glowing purple eyes.

"Daisie… get back inside…" Colette whispered. "That isn't your cousin… not anymore…"

The woman in pink slowly stepped back and the girls locked the door when everyone was back inside. "Where are those ninja!?" Darreth looked out the window, worriedly.

* * *

Wind whipped through everyone's hair as they stood on the deck, watching the sea go by under them. The ride was a little bumpy because of the dragons' different builds and speed but they were trying to pull together as best they could and they were thankful for that.

Lloyd was just plain scared. He scratched at the bandages that were wrapped around his chest and hands. After what that monster just did to him, he wasn't too keen on going back, even if it was to save his people. One thing he now knew; his father was gone for real now and that's what hurt the most.

"I see land!" Zane announced. He looked at a compass in his hand. Lloyd too looked up when the words were said. It was do or die time. "Now… we need to turn left and we'll be in the city in no time!"

Misako looked over the edge at the land that was so rich in greens and colors of the beginnings of spring, now reduced to a dull, gray landscape. "Look what that monster has done…" her hands gripped the side railing, angrily. "Look at the lives he destroyed and the land he has tainted…"

"We can change it back…" Wu narrowed his eyes as he saw the dark shadow in the distance that was the Imperial City, outside the castle grounds. "Put the ship down…" he looked to the four ninja, knowing that if they were too close, they would be seen coming.

Lloyd walking around more easily; didn't want any help from his friends or hovering mother because he couldn't take looking at any of them now. The team entered the west gate of the city and quietly weaved through the buildings, hiding from the zombie like residents who resembled Nya in skin tone and eye color.

"We'll give a whistle if we need the dragons…" Kai looked back before starting to step forward. Misako nodded and started unhitching the dragons.

A terrible screeching sound echoed through the shadow cast land, turning the attention of the ninja and company's heads up at the dark sky above their heads.

**Woo... this is almost done oh my goooooooosh... I had some fun because I made the dragons all separate and I'm loving that I did that XD **

**Thanks for reading! Oh and by the way... in a couple of months or whenever, I'm writing a vocaloid fic based on the song "Alice of Humn Sacrifice" which has to be one of my all time fave songs because it's very... Tim Burtony... I know not a lot of you know what the Vocaloids are and stuff but look it up and you'll see what I'm talking about ;) **

**See you guys later! Oh and I may possibly be updating the three on Hiatus sooner than I think because the Halloween fic just needs to be posted. **

**~Mar**


	29. Above the Ruined City

Above their heads was a hideous, black dragon that circled the city, searching for them probably because they always found a way out. The sun was blacked out by the rolling storm clouds that flashed with lightning every minute or so.

The great black beast finally landed on top of a very tall building that was not there before. "That must be what the weapon had turned into…" Misako noticed. "That building was never there…"

The eight huddled together in an alley way. "Here is what should go down…" Cole looked around, drawing in the dirt. "Wu, Misako, and Julien should try and distract the army on a few of our dragons while we help Lloyd get to the top".

Everyone nodded and broke.

The ninja weaved through to get to the center of the city, hiding from the zombified inhabitants of the Imperial City. "So… I'd love to see that monster's face when we show up!" Jay laughed.

A canon boom echoed and the five boys looked up to see a ball of swirling blackness head straight towards them. The team quickly dodged and Zane looked back at Jay. "Is that the reaction you were hoping for?" The white ninja smirked teasingly.

"Zane…" Jay frowned. "NO".

"How are we gonna get through all of those warriors though?" Kai frowned, poking from the corner of a building. There must have been thousands if not more than that, their elemental powers had some effect, but it wasn't enough to wipe out the entire army.

* * *

Wu and Misako seemed rather adept at flying the dragons of the ninja; Wu was perfectly comfortable on Wisp and Misako was sitting fine on Flame; they did kind of know each other after all.

Julien looked a little awkward sitting on his sons' though. At least Shard was gentle and knew she was carrying a first time flyer. Rocky was on the tail of the four, following Cole's instruction to follow them.

"Where do you want to start?" Misako moved her long side bangs out of her mouth and tucked back in her tight braid.

Wu kept a hand on his bamboo woven hat so it wouldn't fly away and looked down. "We need to buy the boys time! Follow me!" The four dragons flew in a straight path, downward.

Misako's green eyes stared at the Overlord and her mouth tightened into a disgusted frown at the monster. That's when she realized something. "The Helmet of Darkness isn't there… maybe it fell off when he full transformed…" she looked back, shouting.

"What does that mean?" Julien still gripped the sides of Shard's saddle tightly.

She looked at Wu and Julien quietly, "He who wears the helmet shall control the army…" She once again looked down at their enemy. "We have to find that helmet! Maybe the boys will have a fighting chance- oh no…" she sighed, finding the helmet on the ground in the hands of someone… not really qualified to lead a stone army.

"Darreth!?" Kai stopped first. "What are you doing?"

The older man looked up. "Hey I found this thing… pretty cool huh?"

Behind him a hoard of the Stone Warriors were charging in and then Darreth put the helmet on his head and the warriors froze in mid step. "What the?" Jay blinked.

"My mother said that whoever wears the helmet can control the army! Way to go Darreth!" Lloyd grinned.

The four ninja ignited their element blades, "Now we can make it up to the top without having to worry about them!" Cole grinned and they all threw their hoods and started up.

"Wait! What do I do!?" Darreth blinked.

"You can send the warriors up or… something," Jay shrugged as they kept running. "As long as they don't attack us!" Zane had one arm around Lloyd's shoulders to help him keep up.

Wu chuckled, "Let's hope that Darreth can handle a Stone Army". They three weren't paying attention when Nya, who stood atop the building as a look out. She was operating the canon machine now under the Overlord's complete command.

The one shot hit Flame and Misako gripped the back of his neck as Flame's body buckled. "Okay… you should land Flame…"

"Don't you mean the both of you?" Wu looked behind at her. Flame tried to hover and Misako stood, both feet balancing on the saddle and Rocky glided by. "Oh gods of Spinjits don't you jump…" he shouted at her. Of course she ignored him and jumped and pulled herself all the way on.

"Coming boys?" she grabbed Rocky's reigns with a bit of a smirk. "Better watch yourselves, she has good aim and we don't have a fifth dragon for you to jump on".

Wu and Julien looked at one another slowly when the princess took off ahead of them. "You mean to tell me that… that woman is royalty still?" he covered his mouth. The white haired man remembered she liked to swing a sword and play with the dragons, but this was a completely different side of her.

"She doesn't act like it anymore it seems… then again maybe she never was royalty at heart…" Wu shook his head and followed. Under her scroll case and corsets she was always a wild child. He was rather happy to see that she didn't really change in that way.

Attention was returned to the terrifying black dragon they had yet to face. The three adults hoped they really did have a fighting chance at stopping the monster without losing their own lives as well.

**Life is way too stressful right now but I promise I'll keep updating and writing whenever I can... have no fear... just please don't ask and beg for updates because it's not really fair to me... **

**Anyways... yes Falling Inside the Black will continue this week, possibly tomorrow. Like my profile page says, there is no actually update times...**

**Besides that garbage, thank you for reading this! This part is almost done and I couldn't be happier to get this one out of the way... I really wanna clear at least one or two more out so that I can start posting my Vocaloid fic, and not to mention start a Christmas story in a few weeks!**

**Again, thanks for reading and I hope you have a good night**

**~Mar**


	30. Below the Darkened Sky

"Looks like Flame's down…" Kai bit his lip when he saw his pet swooping down for a landing, one wing with tatter marks in the webbing on the underside. "Now come on! We have to do this!" He and Lloyd went up first with Cole, Jay, and Zane behind at their rear.

The five young men heard Nya's loud and raspy cackle and started going faster for fear of having to engage her in a fight again because they didn't have the time or heart to. The canon boomed again, this time, it was pointed directly down and following them up and around.

"Watch out!" Cole shoved Zane and Jay ahead and out of the line of fire when the shot landed on top of them.

"COLE!" They looked behind. His skin started turning gray like Nya, zapping all the color out of his skin and eyes. "We must keep moving," Zane put Lloyd's other arm over his shoulder because the green ninja was getting tired. Cole fell to one knee, trying to fight it off but if Nya couldn't, how could he possibly?

"Go on!" Cole nodded, coughing. Now he had to just focus of maintaining his own mind before he would be ordered to go after them.

Up the next story and now it was Jay's turn to fall just as Cole did. Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut when he heard Jay shout at them, "STAY BACK!" the lightning ninja coughed as he choked on the black smoke that started spreading along his vibrant blue suit, skin, and hair.

Lloyd didn't want to continue now. He wanted to go back. Maybe Cole and Jay were okay and fought off the dark matter. "Lloyd…" Kai snapped his attention back. "We gotta move kid…"

Lloyd pushed himself to keep moving though he could feel his body get heavier with guilt with every step he took up. Zane and Kai were all that was left; and they were the two he was closest to. It sickened him to think they would be gone as well.

Step by step, right foot left foot, higher and higher, not looking back, Lloyd was growing more scared as he was nearing the creature that took his family from him, and had planned everything up to this day, to kill him and rule his kingdom, for centuries to come, possibly forever.

Footsteps caught up to the last three and Lloyd's wishful thinking ended when he saw Cole and Jay, looking just like Nya, chasing them. Zane sighed and let go of Lloyd. "Kai, bring him up the rest of the way… I will take care of them…" he brought out his ice sword, folding his ninja hood over his head possibly for the last time.

Kai dragged Lloyd up with him. "We gotta keep moving Lloyd… please" Lloyd was now being half dragged, looking over his shoulder the whole time "We gotta do this… for them… maybe we can save them," Kai started sweating, thinking of words of encouragement for the young prince.

It was just them now. Who knew what would happen to Zane's father, his mother, or uncle… or if his father was still somewhere inside the beast that consumed him, but now Lloyd and Kai just had each other in the end, and that would just have to do for the young prince.

A quick whooshing sound flew past their ears and Kai closed his eyes. Behind them was Nya, the once sweet and honorable Nya. Kai let go of Lloyd, pushing him up, making the blonde in green and black stumble forward a little. "You're almost there… I'll slow her down… she's my sister… I should be to the one to deal with her". He sighed and held his sword up.

Lloyd's eyes started watering, "We can do this together," Lloyd pleaded. "Kai, you're probably the only friend I'll have left…"

Kai looked back with a smile, "There is only one green ninja…" Lloyd's eyes widened. He recognized the look Kai was giving him; it was the same look of defeat he had shown when they were trapped in the heart of Fire Temple where they swore they would have met their end if not for Kai earning his true potential. It was silent look that screamed this was to be their goodbye forever. "Now; go save your kingdom Prince Lloyd Garmadon…"

"NO! KAI!" Lloyd leaned against the side of the building as the red ninja trotted down the steps more to engage the evil Nya. "Don't go!"

The brunette didn't look back and Lloyd knew Kai wouldn't let him get near, so he kept going up, making it to the top floor where he stood.

He stared at his feet before lifting his head to see the monstrous black dragon that had ruined his life, stealing his father and driving his mother away, leaving him alone without a friend for so long. He let that rage build in him, giving him the strength to battle the greatest enemy Ninjago had ever seen.

The hour of the Green Ninja was at hand.

**Shortie chapter :3 Ah da feels... the terrible feels... Lloyd be losing everyone he ever cared about... but hey, that awesome battle coming in the next chapter! :D **

**I am so tired from work.. gah... at least I'm getting stuff written XD Small victories... since this one is almost done it'll start opening up for another hopeful fic... go and vote on my profile page what you wanna see next! :D**

**Thanks for reading! :D**

**~Mar**


	31. Gold

The Overlord noticed the small, green clothed ninja and lowered his head, bearing his sharp teeth in an eerie looking grin. "My my, look at you, made it all the way to the top little boy…"

Lloyd bit down, "I HAVE COME HERE TO FIGHT YOU!" He pointed up. The beast laughed and Lloyd's cheek grew warm as tears started to form in his eyes. "You destroyed my family… friends… and everything I loved about Ninjago! Now I have come to take back my kingdom!"

"You don't even have a sword little boy… how can you defeat me?" He seemed to look bored.

Lloyd's hands glowed green and he glared up. "I don't need a sword to fight you…" He brought his hands up and blasted the green energy from it as the Overlord breathed down magenta flames.

The Overlord leaned his head down more and more as the scorching pink flames drew hotter on the prince's face.

Lloyd sucked in a breath and tried to summon more power when the dragon stopped the fire and had his massive jaw all the way around Lloyd. Lloyd's heartbeat thudded in his ears as he thought this would be his end when the fangs snapped shut around him.

Then he felt some surge in his body, a power in his chest that glowed in bright gold and the shimmering color glow poured from his eyes and mouth and glowed around his hands and feet, changing the colors of green and black.

It was a bright explosion in the dark land; it was so bright that the dragon retracted and shielded his eyes with his monstrous, black, tattered wings.

"What was that?" Wu shouted, shielding his eyes from the gold, feeling the cold air turn warm.

Floating in the blackened sky was a small figure compared to Overlord beast, only smaller still. A dragon of gold materialized under him.

"It's Lloyd!" Misako smiled in relief. "He has summoned the power of the First Spinjitsu Master!" She could have cried, being she was so proud of him.

Lloyd grinned from under his hood, feeling all the power in the world coursing through his veins and muscles, in his very soul. It was almost overwhelming for the young boy, enough to lose his mind with this power. He opened his sparkly, emerald green eyes that contrasted greatly with his suit, "I am the ultimate master of Spinjitsu, and I order you to get out of my kingdom forever!"

The Overlord roared angrily and flapped his powerful wings, meeting gold prince in the air. The gold dragon Lloyd road climbed higher with the monster that took his father and his friends from him.

"You think because you have a golden suit and dragon, and the son of two of the greatest warriors of Ninjago that you can take your land back," the monster laughed. "With light there must always be shadow".

Lloyd narrowed his shining green eyes, "Unless my light is bright enough!" The dragon shot a bolt of green gold at his enemy, knocking him back more. The enraged black dragon hissed out angry pink flames again and started circling the prince and his dragon, leaving behind a thick, black fog of nothingness around him.

Lloyd's eyes scanned his new area, there was no depth, there was nothing but dead silence, it sucked up every gold blast he and his dragon shot into it.

From the outside it looked like a big, black cloud that no eye could see through. Kai looked back up, his sister on his back and cackling. "We won!" her pointed teeth gritted together in a twisted smile. The fire ninja started to get worried.

_"__Come on kid… you have to win…"_

Everyone who was not turned to the dark zombies was looking at the sky, hope slowing fading away. "You can do it…" Daisie whispered, holding the hands of Edna and Colette. Everyone's hands were joined, praying they would be liberated at long last.

Misako closed her eyes. "Do not take my son from me too…" she felt a tear slip down her cheek. "Don't leave me with nothing…"

"He'll be okay…" Wu assured her. "Your son will survive…" He looked back up, "He has to…"

Lloyd closed his eyes as the raspy laugh of the one who would kill him cackled around him and tried to focus. "I am Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon… I am a prince… my father was corrupted… my mother ran away to find help for me… and my uncle rules our land and cared for me. My friends cared for me too and sacrificed all they had for me even if I could never see them again. I am the green ninja, and I will defeat you". He opened his eyes, glowing bright.

The face of the Overlord melted from the shadows, looking ten times his original size. His long, narrow jaw opened and closed around the prince in gold another time.

He thought he had won.

But the son of Lord Garmadon and Princess Misako would not give in so easily.

The monster's nose twitched, feeling something strange he did not expect.

In a burning sensation gold exploded from his jaw and blinding gold shined through the whole land as he disintegrated.

**Well hopefully Getting Back Together will be updated today as well :D Thanks for reading and see you guys later!**

**~Mar**


	32. Restored

The sun shined, the warm spring wind blew, and color returned to the gray land.

Several buildings lay crumbled in the wake of where the explosion Lloyd and the Overlord created happened but other than that, things looked almost as they were before the huge fight had started.

Nya held her forehead, the sun made her brown eyes ache when she opened them. The young girl felt as though she had slept for days, weeks even. She forced herself to sit up, hair disheveled and blurry vision. Then, she heard movement not far away.

"NYA!" a pair of voices shouted. She jumped and looked to her left. Tears came to her eyes when she saw her brother and Jay running to her. She sat on her knees and welcomed their arms around her.

"Kai," she kissed her brother's cheek. "Jay…" she let go of Kai with her left arm and wrapped her arms around Jay and kissed him full on the lips.

Kai smiled watching them both. "My Nya," Jay cried. "My beautiful Nya… you're back!" he laughed and put his cheek against hers, squeezing her tightly. Nya grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him in too for a tight squeeze.

Cole got up not too far off from the siblings and Jay and stumbled over the rubble, trying to find their missing robotic friend. "Zane!" He grinned, seeing the white ninja on top of several pieces of rubble and helped him up.

Zane wobbled on his legs and started to smile as well. "We did it?"

Misako, Wu, and Julien landed the dragons and ran over, Darreth not far behind them, ditching the helmet of darkness. "We did it!" Julien laughed, running into his son's open arms.

"Who didn't do it!?" Darreth laughed, looking up at the clearing sky.

"Where's Lloyd though?" Kai grimly asked, noticing the ninja of gold missing from the action.

Everyone looked at one another; they saw no sign of the young boy come to think of it, there was the explosion, and now, nothing. Joy was replaced by sudden fear. "He must have… given his life for us?" Nya started shaking, gripping Jay's hand. She hoped that wasn't true.

A flapping sound was above their heads and they looked up. "LLOYD!" They shouted with happy smiles on their faces.

The prince slid off his dragon which evaporating in gold green wisps and threw his hood off, running to his mother. "I did it…" he whispered. "I finished it…" He buried his face in her shoulder, feeling emotional now that he had done the job he was born to do.

Misako hugged him tightly, tears in her own eyes because she was thinking the same thing he was. "I know what you're thinking but I know that…" she trailed off, pulling away from her son to see his face. There was something else though that was in Lloyd's eyes besides a small amount of relief. "Lloyd… Lloyd what's wrong?" she cupped his face.

"He's gone mom…" Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut. "I couldn't save him…" the group looked down at the body of a man lying on the ground. They never saw him before. Misako covered her mouth.

"That's… what he really looks like?" Nya tilted her head. She never realized that it was him if never was cursed; he was actually handsome but kept the comment to herself. Lloyd stood as Misako kneeled down when she looked away, clinging to Jay.

Wu closed his eyes, sharing in their pain as well. "In all honesty… it was never him who would rule Ninjago…" he felt sorry for the older brother.

Everyone else was so quiet; all you could hear was the wind.

"You can't be dead…" she touched his face. "Come on… remember what you told me? Nothing could kill you…? We survived too much for it to end like this…" she squeezed her eyes shut. "You said that you wouldn't die if this battle was done… you said you'd all come back to me…" The others decided to look away; nothing was more depressing than his. "I miss you…" she sniffed, hugging his body. "I love you…"

"My beautiful, clever Misako… No one said anything about dying…" a tired voice coughed. She opened her eyes and pulled back, stunned. "Hi…" he had a crooked smile.

He took her hand gently, "You…" she slowly said. "You… idiot!" she smacked his shoulder, pulling her hand away from his and continuing to cry and shake. "You stupid fool…" He was afraid she would go for the face next but she surprised him; she wiped her eye with her other hand and fell forward into his arms, kissing his face several times.

Lloyd fell down too and hugged his father as well and the ninja did not believe their eyes. They all swore he was dead. "Nothing can kill you…" Wu shook his head. "You were completely right…"

Misako and Lloyd helped Garmadon stand up; leaning on them for support, "I also said that I could never be good…" he looked down. "You thought I was wrong about that…"

Wu nodded, admitting to the words, "She never gave up though… she always believed it was there…" he glanced at the ninja. "We should go back… make sure everyone's okay… not to mention your own families must be worried sick." Lloyd and his parents headed back on their own, they needed time together anyways and so Wu didn't follow them.

"Father…" Lloyd sniffed, not able to say anything more as he leaned against his side.

"You were brilliant son…" Garmadon kissed his son's head. "I always knew you could save me…" He held the young boy close.

"Would you look at that," Jay smiled with the others. "No one died…"

"'Cept the Overlord…" Nya folded her arms with a deep frown. She had more reason to hate him than all four boys together. "He deserved to perish for all that stuff he did… not to mention what he did to me specifically…" she shuddered, trying not to remember how cold everything was.

Everyone put an arm around one another. "We fulfilled the prophecy…" Cole half laughed. "What do you suppose will happen next?"

Wu turned around to face them. "Well now… why don't we discuss that one back home?" he raised an eyebrow.

**Like... three more chapters left. So a couple more stories will be updating :D And I need to start work on a Christmas story... gah... **

**Anyways, thank you lovely people for reading :3**

**~Mar**


	33. Second Chances

Later that night when things settled down, Lloyd was invited to take a walk with his uncle through the front courtyard of the palace. Several of the maids were lighting the red lanterns along the pathways. It felt strange for everyone to be at peace. It was like the world was settling down and relaxing at long last.

"What is this about?" Lloyd was looking down at his feet with his hands behind his back as they walked, expecting what would come next, but just felt like asking anyways.

Wu sighed. "Lloyd…I am so proud of you… your parents are too…" he started, stopping and turning to his nephew he had watched grow up. "And now that you have saved the land…" he pulled the crown out. "This is truly yours now… king".

Lloyd looked up, green eyes wide. His hands closed around the crown edges and he swallowed, "Thank you so much uncle…" he let go. "But I can't accept that…" he shook his head. "I'm twelve… I can't do this… not yet… I don't care if I just saved the world…"

"But I…" Wu looked at him, trailing off. "Who else would I have to rule this land until you're of proper age then if that is what you wished to do?"

Lloyd looked down with a bit of smile, an idea coming to him. "Well… I think you should give him a second chance". The blonde boy looked back at the castle. "After all… doesn't everyone deserve one in the end?"

Wu looked at the crown and sighed. "If that is your wish Lloyd, I trust you judgment". He nodded. "Go on… take it to them…" he smiled. "But be prepared for them to say no…"

Lloyd happily took it and sprinted back inside, ignoring the last warning.

The other servants inside the castle all looked from their jobs as Lloyd ran past them in the hall. "Seen my parents?" he asked. He didn't wait for them to answer though. "Never mind I'll find them!"

"You're highness! Do not run!" of the maids angrily shouted at him but Lloyd was too happy to abide and practically skipped. The prince also passed the other five who looked a little confused as to why the young blonde was so happy at this very moment.

Lloyd skidded to a halt when he found the room he identified as his parent's old bedroom because he thought that is where they would be, it was getting late after all. He hesitated as looking at the big white doors. It was night, maybe they were asleep. He rested his back against the wall next to the door and looked at the crown. "Maybe I should wait till morning…" he frowned, debating on what to do.

On the other side the two were far from sleeping like Lloyd had thought though. "This is all over… You didn't have to die after all," Misako tucked her head under her husband's chin, squeezing her eyes shut "And our Lloyd is safe…"

"I deserved it…" Garmadon kissed the top of her head, tightening his arms around her. "After those terrible things I said to you…" He felt her at the waist where her wound was still healing no doubt, "Things I did to you…"

Misako's hand folded his shirt back and touched the slash scar on his shoulder. One Zane gave in the Underworld and the one she gave in Ouroboris. "I hurt you plenty too… and not just physically," She backed away a little and smiled with tears in her eyes. "I love you so much though…" She wiped her eyes. "And I'm sorry I ever made you feel like I didn't…"

"Misako…" he touched her cheek. "I love you too…" they touched foreheads gently. "I will love you to ends of the earth… and nothing is going to separate this family again… I promise…" he stretched out over her and kissed her forehead and then nose, and finally her mouth.

She tilted her head up a little and accepted it, wrapping her arms around his neck. They let go and smiled endearingly, rubbing noses. The door opened.

They looked to the right and smiled again seeing who it was. "Lloyd…" Garmadon smiled. He laid his head on his wife's chest. "What is it?"

"Sorry if I'm interrupting you…" Lloyd blushed, he never considered that if they were awake, they would want to be alone.

"You are never interrupting us," Misako held her hand out and took her son's hand, squeezing it. "You're our hero… the reason both are right her now…" Lloyd nodded, not saying anything else. He never thought he'd see the day when he would have a family, that he would see his parents together and happy and so many years of struggle. "What did Wu want to talk to you about?"

The blonde looked down. "I don't want to be king…" Lloyd looked back up at them. They seemed rather surprised when he said it. Misako always thought he was so excited to finally be a king. "Never did to be honest… and Wu doesn't want this anymore… he thinks his time is over and since I saved the kingdom…" he showed the crown, biting his lip. "So… I want you guys to take it…" he swallowed. "Be the rulers you never got to be…"

They sat up, looking at their son and then the crown. "We can't do this Lloyd…" Garmadon lowered his head. "We can't possibly… maybe your mother… but no one would accept me after all I did to them…"

Lloyd kneeled on the bed. "Yea… yea you can," he smiled. "You're the ones who should have gotten the chance and you were looked over…" he put the crown down. "Give yourself the benefit of the doubt… for me? Everyone deserves a second chance…"

He and his mother looked at one another, remembering when they first met each other, how he thought she abandoned him as a child. He didn't want to accept her in the beginning but after discovering everything she had been doing for them, how could he?

Misako nodded and looked back at Garmadon, "I think he's right…"

**Ah so we finally are coming to a close... fun chapter coming next... Garmadon family feeeeelz...**

**Thanks for reading! Now I can finally focus more on other stuff! 8D**

**~Mar**


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